
.- 1 



Glass. 
Book. 



THE 



VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS 






1798 and '90; 



JEFFERSON'S ORIGINAL DRAUGHT 

\ THEREOF. 

; 

ALSO, 

[ SSA.ffi)SS®S e S ffiffiffOffiiyj 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE SEVERAL STATES IN RELATION 

TO l 

STATE RIGHTS. 

BTTff OTHER DOCUMENTS JJV SUPPORT OF 

THE JEFFERSONXAN DOCTRINES OF 9& 



" LIBERTY — THE OONSTlTUTION^UNION^^ror^^ 




PUBLISHED BY JONATHAN ELLIOT: 



may, MDoeexixn 



PREFACE 



The celebrated "Resolutions of Virginia and Kentucky of ''98 and }$9, and 
Madisorts Report on the former , being nearly out of print , a new edition\f these 
invaluable state pavers will doubtless be acceptable to the American people, \lliese 
doci'Jinents embody the principles of the old Republicans of the Jeffersonian school, 
the genuine disciples of the Whigs of '76. They were promulgated at ct time 
when the encroachments of the Federal Government on the rights " reserved to 
the Staies and to the People" threatened to break down all the landmarks qpJhe 
constitution, and to destroy the liberties of the country. These principles fear- 
lessly advanced and nobly maintained by Thomas Jefferson and his compatriot^ 
during ii the reign of terror," effected a political revolution which restored the 
public liberty — in the emphatic language of Mr Jefferson, " saved the con- 
stitution^ en at its last gasp" — and thereby preserved the Union itself, bringing 
back, at the same time, the administration of the Government, to the purity fand 
simplicity from which it had so widely departed. 

In bringing these important state pavers to the view of the public, we hate 
deemed it advisable to present, in connexion with them, the late able Address of 
Mr Calhoun, Vice President of the United States, in relation to the truep-^vci- 
pies of the constitution and the nghls of the States: to which we have also added 
the Resolutions adopted at various periods, by the different States of the Union, 
at. I the opinions o r several of our most distinguished public men on these mtal- 
ly important questions. These documents shed a broad and clear light ondhis 
subject, which will remove from the mind of the candid enquirer after truth every 
doubt as to the true theory of the constitution — the " boundaries of jurisdiction "' 
between the Federal and State Governments — the rights of the States, and the con- 
servative principles of our political system. Tlie recently discovered manuscript 
containing the original draught of the Kentucky Resolutions, in the hano^writ" 
ingof Mr Jefferson, will be found in this collection. The preservation of so in- 
teresting a document in a more permanent form than the columns of a newspaper 
would, of itself, be of sufficient importance to justify this publication, which is sub* 
mitted to the people of the United States, in the hope, that it may — by diffusing 
correct information en the great questions embraced in it — so enlighten the public 
mind, as to enable us to transmit our free institutions unimpaired to the fates? 
posterity, 

Pity of Washington, May 1, 183& 






tABLE OF CONTENTS. 




ia Resolutions of '98, • 

s to the People, accompanying the same, 

s to the Resolutions of '98, by the States of — 



Page. 
... 5 



Delaware, 9 

Massachusetts, ....... 10 

13 



15 

19 
21 



Jfew Fork, 

tucky Resolutions of '98, • «• 
/" ' « '99,— 

Mp Madison's Report, 

Mr Calhoun's Address. 41 

ffrlr Jefferson's original draught of 

Kentucky Resolutions, • 57 to 61 

Mr Jefferson's Letter to Mr Giles, 66 
Protest, Jefferson's, for Virginia Le- 
gislature. •. -66 

Chief Justice Mar shall. Speech in case 

ofUonathan Robb ins, ... 68 

State/ Interposition, id. 

& i wun, Mr, his opinions quoted, 69 
Ni ification, origin of the term,"" id. 

Rights, resolutions in relation thereto, by 



Connecticut, 

New Hampshire, 
Vermont, 



14 
id. 
15 



6^ 
70 



Opinion of Chief Justice Tilghman, 
Jin unconstitutional Law void. .••• 
Chief Just. Mar shall on same subject, id* 
The Supreme Court not the final ar- 
biter, (Mr Madison) id. 

Opinion cf Mr Jefferson to same effect id. 
Chief Justice McKean's opinion, • • • • 71 

Judge Roane's opinion, 72 

Majority and Minority, rights and 

duties of '.... id. 

Opinions of Genera' Sumter, «... 7(, 
Dr. Franklin's opinion <>f Free Trade id. 
Dr. Charming on the same subject, 
and the Union, " id. 



Pennsylvania, 74 to 76 

■ 'rginia, id 

orgia, •" 77 

Kuth Carolina, • 77 

V irth Carolina* 79j 

ts from the Federalist, 81 to 82 

INDEX. 



Massachusetts,--""* 79 

Maine, 79 to 80 

Ohio, id. 

New York. «. 81 



A Page. 
Acquiescence of the States under infrac- 
tions of Qonstitution, effects of . . * 7 

Address td the people, accompanying the 

Virginia Resolutions 6 

Alien Law unconstitutional .6 26 

Alabama Reselutions as to State Rights 78 

Answers to Virginia Resolution, of — 

Delaware.^ 9 

Rhode Islajfd 9 

Massachusetts 10 

New Yorkk 13 

Counecticuti. 14 

New Hampshire id. 

Vermont...*.... 15 

C 

ress 41 

irs in the doctrines of Virginia 

Resolutions . . , . . id. 

ferson's letters to on charac- 

)vernment 65 

tor, his opinion 73 

CoSbett's cas£| 71 

Compact Constitutional, each party has an 
equal right t^ judge of infractions, and 

mode and measure of redress. ;... 16 

Construction, fatal/effects of a liberal one 7 8 

Connecticut, answer of, to Virginia Resolu- 
tions 14 

Constitution, o Pompact to which the Slates ' 
are parties, &.. 5 



'Calhoun's Ad« 
" cone 

and Kentucl 
Cartwright, 

ter of our 
Channing, 



Page 
Constitution, "preamble to, the true meaning 

thereof 7 

Constitution, a league or treaty between the 

States 71 

Consolidation leads to monarchy 5 

Convention of the States the only tribunal 
to decide controversies between the States. . . GO 

Courts, federal, not final arbiters 70 71 

" State, rights of id. 

D 
Delaware, answer of, to Virginia Resolu- 
tions » 

F 
Federal Government — 

" " founded on compact 

between the States 5 

" " cannot be maintained 

without co-operation 7 

Federalist, extracts from 81 82 

Franklin, Doctor, his opinions 73 

Free Trade, Franklin and Channing on 73 

G 

Georgia Resolutions as to State Rights 77 

General Government not " the exclusive judge 

of the extent of its own powers" 20 

— " this doctrine stops nothing sl»ort of des- 
potism " id, 

— »* substitutes discretion of rulers for the 

Constitution'" id. 

CHles, TTntirtm B., Jefferson's Icttrrs to fifi 



Vfr 


Madi 


son. 


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do 


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« 


do 


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do 


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do 


cc 


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do 

do 


< c 


(1 


do 


< £ 


cc 


do 



UK 

imposts and taxes harrasfs the laborer 7 

Interposition State— rigid and duty of 22 

" object of the 7 Const itution*.. 23 

" eases to which applicable id. 

Internal improvements, unconstitutional. . . 65 67 
.Jefferson the author of the Kentucky Resol.'s 57 

" " . opinions 65 66 

n's )nginal draught thereof 57 60 

Judiciarj federal claimed to be "the final 

arbiters*' q \s 

denied to be the arbiters by 

i 24 

by Mr Jefferson „ 70 

by Mr Calhoun ••... 47 

by Va. and Kentucky 
by Ch, .hisi ice MeKean. 

by Judge- Roane 

by Ch. Justice Tilehrnan 

by State of Ohio..T 

by Ch. Justice Marshall. 

Kentucky Resolutions of '98 

" do of '99 

L M N 
ttures of States bound to preserve 

line of partition unimpaired 79 

Madison's Report o\ 

Maine assertion by, of State Rights 79 80 

Majority and minority, rights and duties of... 72 
Manufactures, power to promote„claimed - 
by Hamilton 

" " denied by Madison. 25 

" Power to " regulate Commerce" does not 

embrace manufactures 66 

Monarchy consolidation leads to 5 

" distributing emoluments leads to... 8 
Marshall Chief Justice on jurisdiction of 

Federal Courts 68 

li " these Courts possess no p >li- 

tical power i J. 

Massachusetts answer of, to Virginia Re- 
solutions. ; 10 

u •: by, of State Rigfcs 79 

Missis " 'tions against the Tariff. .. . 79 

McKean's C. I's opinion. .. ..' 71 

New Hampshire answer by, to Virginia 

Resolutions 14 

New York answer by, to Virginia Resolutions 81 
North Carolina Resolutions as to State Rights 79 

Nullification "the rightful remedy" 59 

" origin of the term id. 

" Mr J-fferson its author 57 

" the right and duty of each -State 59 60 
O P Q"R 

Oath to preserve State Sovereignty 7 

Ohio assertion by, of State Rights 80 

Olmstead's case 69 

" adopts the Virginia and Kentucky 

Resolutions id. 

Pennsylvania Resolutions, as to State Rights 74 75 
Powers, exercise of, not granted, may be 

arrested by the States 2 



INDEX, 

Page. 



S 



68 



66 



each State to prevent the exercise 

thereof within her limits 60 

" " to provide for common defence and 

general welfare" limited by Constitution 25 
Randolph, Thos. Jefferson, letter to Warren 

R. Davis. i 60 

Rhode Island, answer of to Virginia Resolutions 9 



Sedition Law unconstitutional 

State interposition 

State Sovereignty unimpaired by Fede 

Constitution Jh . . . 7 69 

State Government not subordinate to Federal. 6;" 
" " has exclusive jurisdiction of 

mesti© affairs... 

States, right of to judge of unconstitution 

Laws. i 

' ' right to interpose 

" duty to arrest progress of usurpati 

" to maintain their authority in their limits K 

" the Slates formed the Constitution. ,V« 22 

" no common umpire 

" no tribunal superior to their authority 

" the rightful judges, must decide for 

themselves 

" every State has a right to nullify of their 
own authority in cases not within the com 

- Pact 

# ( ° each State to take measures of its 

for that purpose . . . JL 

State Rights (continued) Resolutions in re, 

lion thereto of Pennsylvania .'. . . 

" Virginia \ /, . . 7 

" Georgia 

" South Carolina id 78 

" Alabama 

" North Carolina 

" Massachusetts. 7 9 

" Mississippi. ., 79 

" Maine .. 79 SO 

" Ohio 80 

" New York _ SI 

Submission to government without limitation 

of powers greatest of evils 67 

Sumter, Gen. his opinions 

South Carolina, Protest of 

" her State Right doctrines 7 

" right m tracing "nullification" to Mr 
J effersdn 



68 
78 



T U V 



57 



69 



Tilghman C. I. opinion in Olmstead'sfcase. 
Tribunitian power at Rome, an absoWte veto. 82 
Umpire, no common umpire betweel the 

States Ik 66 

Unconstitutional Acts void ... 

Usurpation, federal duty of the States to ar 

rest the progress of •»*••• 22 23 

" only way to preserve the Constitution. . id. 

Union, duty to preserve it /. 5 21 

" only to be preserved by opposljg every 

infraction of Constitution L - id. 

Veto, power of vested in Tribunes ia Rome * 

" not danger from exercise of. .4 45 

Vermont, answer by to Virginia Refclutions. 15 
Violations of Constitution to be arrcAed at 

threshold * 18 

" \only way to prevent Revolution sad blood id. 

Virginia Resolutions of '98. . • 5 

" Address to the people accompanying 

the same M C 

" Report thereon X , 21 

" determined " not to submit/ to undele- 
gated power <• 59 

" ' Resolutions as to State Rigllts 70 



Correction. 

In p. 60, for 'the Kentucky Resolutions of '98,' read 'of '99. '—Mr Jefferson's Jbthorship ot 
the Kentucky Resolutions of '98 has never been doubted. In the 4th vol. of his MenVirs, p. S44, 
Mr Jefferson acknowledges himself the author of those resolutions ; and, from the 'documents 
now published, it appears that he was also the author of the * sentiments J if not of the * style,' of 
those of .'99: and that the celebrated expression. * nullification ft the rightful remedy? are em- 
fdiatically his own. 



VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS OF U&8, 

PRONOUNCING 

THE ALIEN <& SEDITION LAWS 

TO BE 

it. ■ msmmmmmmM® 

AND 

DEFINING THE RIGHTS OF THE STATES. 

DRAWN BY MR MADISOX. 



IN THE VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES, Friday, Dec. 21, 1798. 

Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia, doth unequivocally 
express a firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the Unit- 
ed States, and the Constitution of this State, agaiust. every aggression either 
foreign or domestic ; and that they will support the Government of the Unit- 
ed States in all measures warranted by the former. 

That this Assembly most solemnly declares, a warm attachment to the Un- 
ion of the States, to maintain which it pledges its powers; and, that for this 
end, it is their duty to watch over and oppose every infraction of those princi- 
ples which constitute the only basis of that Union, because a faithful observ- 
ance of them, can alone secure its existence and the public happiness. 

That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it 

VIEWS THE POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AS RESULTING FROM 
THE COMPACT, TO WHICH THE STATES ARE PARTIES, AS LIMITED BY 
THE PLAIN SENSE AND INTENTION OF THE INSTRUMENT CONSTITUTING 
THAT COMPACT, AS NO FARTHER VALID THAN THEY ARE AUTHORIZED 
BY THE GRANTS ENUMERATED IN THAT COMPACT; AND THAT IN CASE OF 
A DELIBERATE, PALPABLE, AND DANGEROUS EXERCISE OF OTHER POWERS, 
NOT GRANTED BY THE SAID COMPACT, THE STATES, WHO ARE PARTIES 
THERETO, HAVE THE RIGHT, AND ARE IN DUTY BOUND, TO INTERPOSE, 
FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF THE EVIL, AND FOR MAINTAINING 
WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE LIMITS, THE AUTHORITIES, RIGHTS, AND LIB- 
ERTIES APPERTAINING TO THEM. 

That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret, that a spirit 
has, in sundry instances, been manifested by the Federal Government, to en- 
large its powers by forced constructions of the constitutional charter which de- 
fines them; and, that indications have appeared of a design to expound cer- 
tain general phrases (which, having been copied from the very limited grant of 
powers in the former articles of confederation were the less liable to be mis- 
construed) so as to destroy the meaning and effect, of the particular enumera- 
tion which necessarily explains, and limits the general phrases, and so as to 

CONSOLIDATE THE STATES BY DEGREES, INTO ONE SOVEREIGNTY, THE 
OBVIOUS TENDENCY AND INEVITABLE RESULT OF WHICH WOULD BE, TO 
TRANSFORM THE PRESENT REPUBLICAN SYSTEM OF THE UnI-TED STATES, 
INTO AN ABSOLUTE, OR AT REST, A MIXED MONARCHY, 

. Q 



That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable? 
and aia-ming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Vi- 
xen and Sedition Acts," passed at the last session of Congress ; the first of 
which, exercises a power no where delegated to the Federal Government, and 
which by uniting Legislative and Judicial powers to th ose of Executive, sub- 
verts the general principles of free government, as well as the particular or- 
ganization and positive provisions of the Federal Constitution ; and the other 
of which acts, exercises in like manner, a power not delegated by the Consti- 
tution, but on the contrary, expressly and positively forbidden by one of 
the amendments thereto; a power, which more than any other, ought to 
produce universal alarm, because it is levelled against the right of freely exa- 
mining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the 
people thereon, which has ever been justly deemed, the only effectual guar- 
dian of every other right. 

That this State having by its Convention, which ratified the Federal Consti- 
tution, expressly declared, that among other essential rights, "the liberty of 
conscience and the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modifi- 
ed by any authority of the United States," and from its extreme anxiety to 
guard these rights from e\ery possible attack of sophistry and ambition, hav- 
ing with other States, recommended an amendment for that purpose,which 
amendment was, in due time, annexed to the Constitution, it would mark a 
reproachful inconsistency, and criminal degeneracy, if an indifference were 
now shown, to the most palpable violation of one of the rights, thus declared 
and secured; and to the establishment of a precedent which may be fatal to 
the other. 

That the good people of this Commonwealth, having ever felt, and continu- 
ing to feel the most sincere affection for their brethren of the other States ; the 
truest anxiety for establishing and perpetuating the union of all ; and the most 
scrupulous fidelity to that Constitution, which is the pledge of mutual friend- 
ship, and the instrument of mutual happiness; the General Assembly doth 
solemnly appeal to the like dispositions in the other States, in confidence, that 
they will concur with this Commonwealth, in declaring, as it does hereby de 
clare, that the acts aforesaid, are unconstitutional; and, that the necessary 
and proper measures will be taken by each for co-operating with this State, in 
maintaining unimpaired, the authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the 
States respectively, or to the people. 

That the Governor be desired to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolu- 
tions to the Executive authority of each of the other States, with a request, 
that the same may be communicated to the Legislature thereof; and that a 
copy be furnished to each of the Senators and Representatives representing 
this State in the Congress of the United States. 

Attest, JOHN STEWART. 

1798, December, 24th. Agreed to by the Senate. 
H. BROOKE. 
A true copy from the original deposited in the office of the General Assembly* 

JOHN STEWART, Keeper of Rolls. 

EXTRACTS 

JFrom the Address to the People* which accompanied the foregoing Resolutions. 

Fellow Citizens — Unwilling to shrink from our representative responsi- 
bility, conscious of the purity of our motives, but acknowledging your right to 
supervise our conduct, we invite your serious attention to the emergency 
which dictated the subjoined resolutions. Whilst we disdain to Sarin you by 
ill-founded jealousies, we recommend an investigation, guided by the coolness 
of wisdom, and a decision bottomed on firmness, but tempered with mode- 
ration. 



7 

it would be perfidious in those entrusted with the guardianship of the 
State sovereignty, and acting under the solemn obligation of the following 
oat: : ** I do swear, that I will support the Constitution ot the United States, 
not to warn you of encroachments, which, though clothed with the pretext of 
necessity, or disguised by arguments of expediency, may yet establish prece- 
dents, which may ultimately devote a generous and unsuspicious people to all 
the consequences of usurped power. 

Encroachments springing from a Government, whose organization can- 
not BE MAINTAINED WITHOUT THE CO-OPERATION OF THE STATES, fur- 
nish the strongest excitements upon the State Legislatures to watchfulness, 
and impose upon thern the strongest obligation, to preserve unimpaired 

THE LINE OF PARTITION. 

The acquiescence of the States under infractions of the Federal Compact, 
would either oeget a speedy consolidation, by precipitating the State Govern- 
ments into iropotency and contempt ; or prepare the way for a revolution, by 
a repetition of these infractions, until the people are aroused to appear in the 
majesty of their strength. It is to avoid these calamities, that we exhibit to 
the people, the momentous question, whether the Constitution of the United 
States shall yield to a construction, which defies every restraint, and over- 
whelms the best hopes of republicanism. 

Exhortations to disregard domestic usurpation, until foreign danger shall 
have past, is an artifice which may be forever used ; because the possessors of 
power, who ire the advocates for its extension, can ever create national em- 
bat rassments, to be successively employed to soothe the people into sleep, 
whilst that power is swelling, silently, secretly, and fatally. Of the same 
character are insinuations of a foreign influence, which seize upon a laudable 
enthusiasm against danger from abroad, and distort it by an unnatural appli- 
cation, so as to blind your eyes against danger at home. 

The Sedition act presents a scene, which was never expected by the early 
friends of the Constitution. It was then admitted, that the State sovereign- 
ties were only diminished, by powers specifically enumerated, or necessan to 
carry the specified powers into effect. Now Federal authority is deduced 
from implication* and from the existence of State law. it is inferred, that Con- 
gress possess a similar power of legislation ; whence Congress will be endow- 
ed with a power of legislation, in all cases whatsoever, and the States will be 
stript of every right reserved, by the concurrent claims of a paramount Legis- 
lature. 

The Sedition act is the offspring of these tremendous pretensions, which 
inflict a death wound on the sovereignty of the States. 

For the honor of American understanding, we will not believe, that the 
people have been allured into the adoption of the Constitution, by an affecta- 
tion of defining powers, whilst the preamble would admit a construction,which 
would erect the will of ( ongress into a power paramount in all cases, and 
therefore limited in none. On the contrary, it is evident that the objects for 
which the Constitution was formed were deemed attainable only by a particu- 
lar enumeration and specification of each power granted to the Federal Gov- 
ernment ; reserving all others to the people, or to ttie State/ And yet it is 
in vain we search for any specified power, embracing tb* right of legislation 
against the freedom of the press. 

Had the States been despoiled of their sovereignty by the generality of the 
preamble, and had the Federal Government been endowed with whatever they 
should judge to be instrumental towards union, justice, tranquillity, common 
defence, general welfare, and the preservation of liberty, nothing could have 
been more frivolous than an enumeration of powers. 

All the preceding arguments arising from a deficiency of constitutional 
power in Congress, apply to the Alien act, and this act is liable to other ob- 






8 

jections peculiar to itself. It a suspicion that aliens are dangerous, constitute 
the justification of that power exercised over them by Congress, then a similar 
suspicion will justify the exercise of a similar power over natives. Be- 
cause there is nothing in the Constitution distinguishing between the power 
of a State to permit the residence of natives and aliens. It is, therefore, a 
right originally possessed, and never surrendered by the respective States, 
and which is rendered dear and valuable to Virginia, because it is assailed 
through the bosom of the Constitution, and because her peculiar situation ren- 
ders the easy admission of artizans and laborers an interest of vast impor- 
tance. 

But this bill contains other features, still more alarming and dangerous. It 
dispenses with the tiial by jury; it violates the judicial system; it confounds 
legislative, executive, and judicial powers; it punishes without trial ; and it 
bestows upon the President despotic power over a numerous class of men. 
Are such measures consistent with our constitutional principles? And will 
an accumulation of power so extensive, in the hands of the Executive, over 
aliens, secure to natives the blessings of republican liberty ? 

If measures can mould Governments, and if an uncontrolled power of con- 
struction, is surrendered to those who administer them, their progress may be 
easily foreseen and their end easily foretold. A lover of monarchy, who opens 
thQ treasures of corruption, by distributing emolument among devoted parti- 
zans, may at the same time be approaching his object, and deluding the people 
with professions of republicanism He may confound monarchy and repub- 
licanism, by the art of definition. He may varnish over the dexterity which 
ambition never faiis to display, with the pliancy of language, the seduction 
of expediency, or the prejudices of the times. And he may come at length 
to avow, that so extensive a territory as tliat'of the United States, can only 
be governed by the energies of monarchy; that it cannot be defended, ex- 
cept by standing armies ; and that it cannot be united, except by consolidation. 

Measures have already been adopted, which may lead to these consequen- 
ces. They consist : 

In fiscal systems and arrangements, which keep an host of commercial and 
wealthy individuals, embodied and obedient, to the mandates of the treasury. 

In armies and navies, which will, on the one hand, enlist the tendency of 
man to pay homage to his fellow creature who can feed or honor him ; and on 
the other, "employ the principle of fear, by punishing imaginary insurrections, 
under the pretext of preventive justice. 

In swarms of officers, civil and military, who can inculcate political tenets 
tending to consolidation and monarchy, both by indigencies and severities j 
and can act as spies over the free exercise of human reason. 

In restraining the freedom of the press, and investing the Executive with 
legislative- executive, and judicial powers, over a numerous body of men. 

A^d, that "\Te may shorten the catalogue, in establishing by successive prece- 
dents suctl a mod f. of construing the Constitution, as will rapidly remove eve- 

^S£;^-fi f "t r 'the man of experience ..fleet , nay let ^ar- 
tificers of Monarchy to askeu, what farther matenals they can need forb«U«U 

^iTesetet^ 

toforget the possib,iity Jf danger jftjgftj £g ttfg^ETf 

troM within. Usurpation is mdeec ^-™d ha nds ; :nited, and repel the at- 

that should happen, let us rise with hearts ana nanus ... .aw , •". ■ 

tack, with the zeal of freemen, who will stre..^« the " '* *'? < "Iwf* "£ 

correct domestic measures, by having defended thw countr ^ a S ain " tore, * n 

agression. 



Pledged as we are, fellow-citizens, to these sacred engagements, we yet 
humbly and fervently implore the Almighty Disposer of Events, to avert from 
our land war and usurpation, the scourges of mankind ; to permit our fields to 
be cultivated in peace; to instil into nations the love of friendly intercourse ; 
to suffer our youth to be educated in virtue ; and to preserve our morality from 
the pollution, invariably incident to habits of war ; to prevent the labororer and 
husbandman from being harassed by taxes and imposts ; to remove from ambi- 
tion, the means of disturbing the Commonwealth: to annihilate all pretexts 
for power afforded by war; to maintain the Constitution ; and, to bless our na- 
tion with tranquillity, under whose benign influence, we may reach the summit 
of happiness and glory, to which we are destined by NATURE and NA- 
TURE'S GOD. ~ Attest, JOHN STEW ART, C H D. 

1799, January 23d. Agreed to by the Senate. H. BROOKE, C S. 

A true copy from the original deposited in the office of the General Assembly. 

JOHN STEWART, Keeper of Rolls. 



ANSWERS OFTHE SEVERAL STATE LEGISLATURES 

STATE OF DELAWARE. 

In the House of Representatives, February 1, 1799. — Resolved, By the Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware, in General As- 
sembly met, that they consider the resolutions from the State of Virginia, as 
a very unjustifiable inteference with the General Government and constituted 
authorities of the United States, and of dangerous tendency, and therefore 
not tit subject for the further consideration of the General Assembly. 
ISAAC DAVIS, Speaker of the Senate. * 
STEPHEN LEWIS, Speaker of the House of Rep's: 
Test— John Fisher, C. S.— John Caldwell, C. H. R. 

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 

In General Assembly February, At. D. 1799.— Certain Resolutions of the 
Legislature of Virginia, passed on *lst of December last, being communica- 
ted to this Assembly, ■ 

1 Resolved, That in the opinion of this legislature, the second section of 
third article of the Constitution of the United States in these words, to wit: 
The Judicial power shall extend to all cases, arising under the laws of the 
United States, vests in the Federal Courts, exclusively, and in the Supreme 
Court of the United States, ultimately the authority of deciding on the con- 
stitutionality of any act or Jaw of the Congress of the United States. 

2 Resolved, That for any state legislature to assume that authority, would be, 
1st. Blending together legislative and judicial powers. 

2d. Hazarding an interruption of the peace of the states by civil discord, 
in case of a diversity of opinions among the state legislatures; each state hav- 
ing, in that case, no resort for vindicating its own opinions, but to the strength 
of its own arm. 

3d. Submitting most important questions of law to less competent tribu- 
nals: and 

4th An infraction of the Constitution of the United States, expressed in 
plain terms. 

S Resolved, That although for the above reasons, this legislature, in their 
public capacity, do not feel themselves authorised to consider and decide on 
the constitutionality of the Sedition and Alien laws (so called:) yet they are 
called upon by the exigency of this occasion, to declare, that in their private 
opinions, these laws are within the powers delegated to Congress, and promo* 
tive of the welfare of the United States, 



4 Resolved, That the goveriibr communicate these resolutions to the su- 
preme executive of the state of Virginia, and at the same time express to him 
that this legislature cannot contemplate, without extreme concern and regret, 
the many evil and fatal consequences which may flow from the very unwar- 
rantable resolutions aforesaid, of the legislature of Virginia, passed on the 
twenty-first day of December last. 

A true copy, SAMUEL EDDY, Sec'y. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS* 

In Senate, Pebruartf '9, 1799.— The Legislature of Massachusetts having 
taken into serious consideration the resolutions of the State of Virginia, pass^- 
ed the 21st day of December last, and comn Unicated by his excellency the 
governor, relative to certain supposed infractions of the constitution of the 
United States, by the government thereof, and being convinced that the fed- 
eral Constitution is calculated to promote the happiness, prosperity and safe- 
ty of the people of these United States, and to maintain that union of the 
several states, so essential to the welfare of the whole; and being bound by 
solemn oath to support and defend that Constitution, feel it unnecessary to 
make any professions of their attachment to it, or of their firm determination to 
support it against every aggression, foreign or domestic. 

But they deem it their duty solemnly to declare, that while they hold sa- 
cred the principle, that consent of the people is the only pure source of just 
and legitimate power, they cannot admit the right of the state legislatures to 
denounce the. administration of that government to which the people them- 
selves, by a solemn compact, have exclusively committed their national con- 
cerns: That, although a liberal and enlightened vigilance among the people is 
always to be cherished, yet an unreasonable jealousy of the men of their 
choice, and a recurrence to measures of extremity, upon groundless or trivial 
pretexts, have a strong tendency to destroy all rational liberty at home, and 
to deprive the United States of the most essential advantages in their rela- 
tions abroad; Thatthis legislature are persuaded, that the decision of all cases, 
in law and equity, arising under the Constitution of the United States, and 
the construction of all laws made in pursuance thereof are exclusively vested 
by the people in the judicial courts of the United States. 

That the people in that solemn compact, which is declared to be the supreme 
law of the land, have not constituted the state legislatures the judges ©f the 
acts or measures of the Federal Government, but have confided to them, the 
power of proposing such amendments of the Constitution, as shall appear to 
them necessary to the interests, or conformable to the wishes of the people 
whom they represent. 

That by this construction of the Constitution, an amicable and dispassionate 
remedy is pointed out for any evil which experience may prove to exist, and 
the peace and prosperity of the United States may be preserved without inter- 
ruption. 

But, should the respectable state of Virginia persist in the assumption of 
the right to declare the acts of the National Government unconstitutional, and 
should she oppose successfully her force and will to those of the nation, the 
Constitution would be reduced to a mere cypher, to the form and pageantry 
of authority, without the energy of power. Every act of the Federal Gov- 
ernment which thwarted the views or checked the ambitious projects of a par- 
ticular state, or of its leading and influential members, would be the object of 
opposition and of remonstrance; while the people, convulsed and confused by 
the conflict between two hostile jurisdictions, enjoying the protection of nei- 
ther, would be wearied into a submission to some bold leader, who would es- 
tablish himself on the ruins of both. 



11 

The legislature of Massachusetts, although they do not themselves claim the* 
right, nor admit the authority, of any of the state governments, to decide up- ? 
on the constitutionality of the acts of the Federal Government, still, least 
their silence should be construed into disapprobation, or at best into a doubt of % 
the constitutionality of the acts referred to by the state of Virginia; and, as ( 
the General Assembly of Virginia has called for an expression of their senti- t 
meats, do explicitly" declare, that they consider the acts of Congress, com- 
monly called "the alien and sedition acts," not only constitutional, but expe- 
dient and necessary: That the former act respects a description of persons 
whose rights were not particularly contemplated in the Constitution of the 
United States, who are entitled only to a temporary protection, while they 
yield a temporary allegiance; a protection which ought to be withdrawn when 
ever thev become « dangerous to the public safety," or are found guilty of 
« treasonable machination" against the government: That Congress having 
been especially entrusted by the people with the general defence of the nation? 
had not only the right, but were bound to protect it against internal as well as 
external foes That the United States, at the time of passing the act con- 
cerning aliens* were threatened with actual invasion, had been driven by the 
unjust and ambitious conduct of the French Government into warlike prepara- 
tions, expensive and burthensome, and had then, within the bosom of the 
country, thousands of aliens, who, we do^bt not, were ready to co-operate in 
any external attack. 

It cannot be seriously believed, that the United States should have waited 
till the poignard had in fact been plunged. The removal of aliens is the usu- 
al preliminary of hostility, and is justified by the invariable usages of nations. 
Actual hostility had unhappily long been experienced, and a formal declara- 
tion of it the government had reason daily to expect. The law, therefore was 
just and salutary, and no officer could with so much propriety be entrusted 
with the execution of it, as the one in whom the Constitution has reposed the 
executive power of the United States. 

The sedition act* so called, is, in the opinion of this legislature, equally de- 
fensible. The General Assembly of Virginia, in their resolve under consider- 
ation, observe, that when that state by its convention, ratified the Fede- 
ral Constitution, it expressly declared, "That, among other essential rights, 
the liberty of conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, res- 
trained or modified by any authority of the United States," and from its ex- 
treme anxiety to guard these rights from every possible attack of sophistry or 
ambition, with other states, recommend an amendment for that puipose: which 
amendment was, in due time, annexed to the Constitution; but they did not 
surely expect that the proceedings of their state convention were to explain 
the amendment adopted by the Union. The words of that amendmnt, on this 
subject, are, ■'* Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or 
of the press." 

The act complained of is no abridgment of the freedom of either. The 
genuine liberty of speech and the press, is the liberty to utter and publish the 
truth; but the constitutional right of the citizen to utter and publish the truth, 
is not to be confounded with the licentiousness in speaking and writing, that 
is only employed in propagating falsehood and slander. This freedom of the 
press has been explicitly secured by most, if not all the state constitutions; 
and of this provision there has been generally but one construction among en- 
lightened men; that it is a security for the rational use and not the abuse of 
the press; of which the courts of law, the juries and people will judge; this 
right is not infringed, but confirmed and established by the late act of Con- 
gress. 

B v the Constitution, the legislative, executive and judicial departments of 
government are ordained and established^ and general enumerated powers 



12 

)> rested in them respectively, including those, which are prohibited to the seve- 
ral states. Certain powers a*e granted in general terms by the people to their 
general government, for the purposes of their safety and protection. The 
government is not only empowered, but it is made their duty to repel inva- 
sions and suppress insurrections; to guarantee to the several states a republi- 
can form of government; to protect each state against invasion, and, when 
* applied to, against domestic violence: to'hearand decide all cases in law and 
equity, arising under the Constitution, and under any treaty or law made in 
pursuance thereof; and ail cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and 
relating to the law of nations. Whenever, therefore, it becomes necessary 
to effect any of the objects designated, it is perfectly consonant to all just rules 
of construction, to infer, that the usual means and powers necessary to the 
attainment of that object, are also granted: But the Constitution has left no 
occasion to resort to implication for these powers; it has made an express 
grant of them, in the 8th section of the first article, which ordains, " That 
Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and pro- 
per for carving into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vest- 
ed by the Constitution in the government of the United States or in any de- 
partment or officer thereof." 

This Constitution has established a Supreme Court of the United States, 
but has made no provision for its protection, even against such improper con- 
duct in its presence, as might disturb its proceedings, unless expressed in the 
section before recited. But as no statute has been passed on this subject, this 
protection is,. and has been for nine years past, uniformly found in the applica- 
tion of the principles and usages of the common law. " The same protection 
may unquestionably be afforded by a statute passed in virtue of the before men- 
tioned section, as necessary and proper", for carrying i'nto execution the pow- 
ers vested in that department. A construction of the different parts of the 
Constitution, perfectly just and fair, will, on analagnus principles, extend pro- 
tection and security against the offences in question, to the other departments 
of government, in discharge of their respective trusts. 

The President of the United States is bound by his oath "to preserve, pro- 
tect and defend the Constitution." and it is expressly made his duty "to take 
care that the laws be faithfully executed;" but this would be impracticable by 
any created being, if there could be no legal restraint of those scandalous 
misrepresentations of his measures and motives, which directly tend to rob 
him of the public confidence. And equally impotent would be every other 
public officer, if thus left to the mercy of the seditious. 

It is holden to be a truth most clear, that the important trusts before enu- 
merated, cannot be discharged by the government to which they are commit- 
ted, without the power to restrain seditious practices and unlawful combina- 
tions against itself, and to protect the officers thereof from abusive misrepres- 
entations. Had the Constitution withheld this power, it would have made the 
government responsible for the effects without any control over the causes 
which naturally produce them, and would have essentially failed of answering 
the great ends for which the people of the United States declare, in the first 
clause of that instrument, that they establish the same, viz: " To form a more 
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of li- 
berty to ourselves and posterity." 

Seditious practices and unlawful combinations against the Federal Govern- 
ment, or any officer thereof, in the performance of his duty, as well as licen- 
tiousness of speech and of the press were punishable on the principles of 
common law in the courts of the United States, before the act in question 



Vas passed. This act then is an amelioration of that law in favor of the paxv 
ty accused, as if mitigates the punishment which that authorises, and admits 
of any investigation of public men and measures which is regulated by truth. 
It is not intended to protect men in office, only as they are agents of the peo- 
ple. Its object is to afford legal secu'ity to public offices and trusts created 
for the safety and happiness of the people, and therefore the security derived 
from it is for the benefit of the people, and is their right. 

This construction of the Constitution and of the existing law of the land, 
as well as the act complained of, the legislature of Massachusetts most delibe- 
rately and firmly believe results from a just and full view of the several parts 
of the Constitution: and they consider that act to be wise and necessary, as 
an audacious and unprincipled spirit of falsehood and abuse had been too 
long unremittingly exerted for the purpose of perverting public opinion, and 
threatened to undermine and destroy the whole fabric of government. 

The legislature further declare, that in the foregoing sentiments they have 
expressed the general opinion of their constituents, who have not only acqui- 
esced without complaint in those particular measures of r he Federal Govern- 
ment, but have given their explicit approbation by re-electing those men who 
voted for the adoption of them. Noris.it apprehended, that the citizens of 
this state will be accused of supineness or ot an indifference to their constitu- 
tional rights; for, while on the one hand, they regard with due vigilance the 
Conduct of the government; on the o^her, their freedom, safety and happiness 
require, that they should defend that government and its constitutional mea- 
sures against the open or insiduous attacks of any foe, whether foreign 
or domestic. 

And, lastly, t^at the legislature of Massachusetts feel a strong conviction, 
that the several United States are connected by a common interest which 
eught to render their union indissoluble, and that this state will always co- 
operate with its confederate states in rendering that union productive of mu- 
tual security, freedom and happiness. 

Sent down for concurrence. SAMUEL PHILIPS, President. 

In the House of Representatives, Feb 13, 1799 

Read and concurred. EDWARD H. ROBBINS, Speaker. 

A true copy. Attest, JOHN AVERY, Secretary. 

STATE OF NEW YORK. 
In Senate, March 5, 1799.— Whereas, the people of the United States 
have established for themselves a free and independent national governments 
And whereas it is essential to the existence of every government, that it have 
authority to defend and preserve its constitutional powers inviolate, inasmuch, 
as every infringement thereof tends to its subversion. And whereas the judi= 
cial power extends expressly to all cases of law and equity arising under the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States whereby the interference of 
the legislatures of the particular states in those cases is manifestly excluded. 
And, whereas, our peace, prosperity and happiness, eminently depend on 
the preservation of the Union, in order to which, a reasonable confidence 
in the constituted authorities and chosen representatives of the people 
is indispensable. And, whereas, every measure calculated to weaken that 
confidence, has a tendency to destroy the usefulness of our public functiona- 
ries, and to excite jealousies equally hostile to rational liberty, and the princi- 
ples of a good republican government. And, whereas, the Senate not per- 
ceiving that the rights of the particular states have been violated, nor any un- 
constitutional powers assumed bv the general govern nent, cannot forbear to 
express the anxiety «and regret with which they observe the inflammatory and 
pernicious sentiments and doctrines which are contained in the resolutions of 
3 



\ 



14 

the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky — sentiments and doctrines, no less 
repugnant to the Constitution of the United States,, and the principles of their 
union, than destructive to the federal Government; and unjust to those whom 
the people have elected to administer it: wherefore. Resolved, That while the 
Senate feel themselves constrained to bear unequivocal test : mony, against 
such sentiments and doctrines, they deem it a duty no less indispensable, ex- 
plicitly to declare their incompetency, as a branch of the legislature of this 
state, to supervise the acts of the Genera! Government. 

Resolved* That his excellency, th&governor be, and he is hereby requested 
to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolution to the executives of the states of 
Virginia and Kentucky, to the end, that the same may be communicated to 
the legislatures thereof. 

A true copy, ABM. B. BAUCKER, Clerk. 

STATE OF CONNECTICUT. 

At a general assembly of the state of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, jn 
the said State, on the second Thursday of May, Anno Domini, 1799, his excel- 
lency the Governor having communicated to this assembly sundry resolutions 
of the Legislature of Virginia adopted in December, 1798, which relate to the 
measures of the general government, and the said resolutions having been con- 
sidered, it is 

Resolved* That this assembly views with deep regret, and explicitly disa- 
vows, the principles contained in the aforesaid resolutions; and particularly 
the opposition to the "alien and sedition acts" — acts which the constitution 
authorised: which the exigency of the country rendered necessary: which the 
constituted authorities have enacted, and which merit the entire approbation 
of this assembly. They, therefore, decidedly refuse to concur with the Legis- 
lature of Virginia, in promoting any of the objects attempted in the aforesaid 
resolutions. 

And it is further resolved, That his excellency the Governor be requested 
to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolution to the Governor of Virginia, that 
it may oe communicated to the Legislature of that State. 
Passed in the House of Representatives unanimously. 

Attest, JOHN C. SMITH, Clerk. 
Concurred, unanimously, in the Upper House. 

Teste, SAM. WYLLYS, Sec'ry. 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

In fhe House of Representatives, June 14, 1799- — The committee, to take 
into consideration the resolutions of the general assembly of Virginia, dated 
December 21st, 1798 5 also certain resolutions of the Legislature of Kentucky, 
of the 10th November, 1798, report as follows: 

The Legislature of New Hampshire having taken into consideration certain 
resolutions of the general assembly of Virginia, dated December 21, 1798; al- 
so certain resolutions of the Legislature 6t Kentucky, of the 10th of Novem- 
ber, 1798, 

Resolved, That the Legislature of New Hampshire unequivocally express a 
firm resolution to maintain and defend the constitution of the United States, 
and the constitution of this State, against every aggression, either foreign or 
domestic, and that they will support the government of the United States in 
all measures warranted by the former. 

That the State Legislatures are not the proper tribunals to determine the 
constitutionality of the laws of the general government — that the duty of such 
decision is properly and exclusively confided to the judicial department. 

That if the Legislature of New Hampshire, for mere speculative purposes, 
were to express an opinion on the acts of the general government, commonly 



15 

called "the alien and sedition bills," that opinion would unreservedly be, that 
those acts are constitutional, and in the present critical situation of our coun- 
try, highly expedient. 

That the constitutionality and expediency of the acts aforesaid, have been 
very ably advocated and clearly demonstrated by many citizens of the United 
States, more especially by the minority of the General Assembly of Virginia. 
The Legislature of New Hampshire, therefore, deem it unnecessary, by any 
train of arguments,to attempt further illustration of the propositions, the truth of 
which, it is confidently believed, at this day, is very generally seen and ack- 
nowledged. 

Which report being read and considered, was unanimously received and ac- 
cepted, one hundred and thirty-seven members being present. 

Sent up for concurrence. JOHN PRENTICE, Speaker. 

In Senate, same day, read and concurred unanimously. 

AMOS SHEPARD, President. 
Approved, June 15th, 1799. J. T. GILMAN, Governor. 

A true copy. Attest, JOSEPH PEARSON, Secretary. 

STATE OF VERMONT. 

In the House of Representatives, October 30th, A. D. 1799. — The House 
proceeded to take under their consideration the resolutions of the General 
Assembly of Virginia, relative to certain measures of the general government, 
transmitted to the Legislature of this State, for their consideration : Where- 
upon, 

Resolved, That the General Assembly of the State of Vermont do highly disap- 
prove of the resolutions of the General x\ssembly of Virginia, as being unconsti- 
tutional in their nature, and dangerous in their tendency. It belongs not to State 
Legislatures to decide on the constitutionality of laws made by the general' 
government; this power being exclusively vested in the judiciary courts of 
the Union : That his excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a copy 
of this resolution to the executive of Virginia, to be communicated to the Gen- 
eral Assembly of that State: And that the same be sent to the Governor and 
Council for tlieir concurrence. SAMUEL C. CRAFTS, Clerk. 

In Council, October 30, 1799. Read and concurred unanimously 

RICHARD WHITNEY, Secretary. 



KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF 1798 AND 1799. 

[THE ORIGINAL DRAUGHT PREPARED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON ] 

The following Resolutions passed the House of Representatives of Kentucky, 
Nov. 10M, 1798. On the passage of the fir st Resolution, one dissentient ; 
2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, two dissentients ; 9th, three dissentients. 

I. Resolved, That the several States composing the United States of 
America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their Gen- 
eral Government; but that by compact under the style and title of a Consti- 
tution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a 
General Government for special purposes, delegated to that Government cer- 
tain definite powers, reserving each State to itself, the residuary mass of light 
to their own self-government ; and, that whensoever the General Govern- 
ment assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of; 
no force ; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an inte- 
gral party ; that this Government, created by this compact, was not made the 
exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that 
would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its 
powers; but. that as in all other cases of compact, among parties having no 



w 

common judge, EACH PARTY HAS AN EQUAL RIGHT TO JUDGE 
FOR ITSELF. AS WELL OF INFRACTIONS AS OF THE >i01)£' 
AND MEASURE OF REDRESS. 

II. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States having delegat- 
ed to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and 
current coin of the United States, piracies and felonies committed on the high, 
seas, and offences against the laws of nations, and no other crimes whatever, 
and it being true, as a general principle, and one of the amendments to 
the Constitution having also declared, "that the powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the Statt^ are re- 
served to the States respectively, or to the people." therefore, also, the same 
act of Congress, passed on the 14th day of July. 1798. and entitled,'' An act 
in addition to the act entitled an act for the punishment of certain crimes 
against the United States ;" as also, the act passed by them on the 2Tth day of 
June, 1798, entitled, " An act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of "the 
United States," (and all other their acts which assume to create, define, or 
punish crimes other than those enumerated in the Constitution) are alio- 
gether void and of no force, and that the power to create, define, and puiish 
such other crimes is reserved, and of right appertains solely and exclusively to 
the respective States, each within its own territory. 

III. Resolved, That it is true, as a general principle, and is also expressly 
declared by one ot the amendments to the Constitution, that « the powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the 
States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people ;'' and. thai n» 
power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the 
press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of rjgnt remain, 
and were reserved to the States or to the people; that thus was manifested 
their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the li- 
centiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening 
their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from 
their use, should be tolerated rather than t e use be destroyed ; and thus also 
they guarded against all abridgment by the United States, of the freedom of 
religious principles and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of pro- 
tecting the same, as this, stated by a law passed on the general demand ot its 
citizens, had already protected them from all human restraint or interference: 
and, that, in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another 
and more special provision has been* made by one of the amendments to the 
Constitution, which expressly declares, that " Congress shall make no laws re- 
specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof 
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press," thereby guarding in the 
same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, 
and of the press, insomuch, that whatever violate- either, throws down the 
sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, 
equally with heresy and false religion,are withheld from the cognizance of Fed- 
eral tribunals. That therefore the act of the Congress of the United States, 
passed on the 14th of July, 1798, entitled, " An act in addition to the act en- 
titled an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," 
Hvhich does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is altogether 2 vom 
Sand of no force. 

IV. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protec- 
tion of the law-s of the State wherein they are : that no power over them has 
been delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to the individual States 
distinct from their power over citizens ; and it being true, as a general princi- 
ple, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that 
tC the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro* 



11 

hibited to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,^ 
the act of the Congress of the United States, passed the 22d day of June,179&, 
entitled, -'An act concerning aliens,"' which assumes power over alien friends 
not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, bat is altogether void and of n© 
force. 

V. Resolved, That in addition to the general principle as well as the ex- 
press declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another and more 
special provision inferred in the Constitution, from abundant caution has de- 
clared, " that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the States 
now existing shall think proper to admit, shali not be prohibited by the Con- 
gress prior to the year 1808." That this Commonwealth does adn.it the mi- 
gration of alien friends described as the subject of the said act concerning al- 
iens; that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a provision against 
all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory ; that to remove them 
when migrated is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is, there- 
fore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void. 

VI. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under the protection of 
the laws of this Commonwealth on his failure to obey the simple order of the 
President, to depart out of the United States, as is undertaken by the said act # 
entitled, *• An act concerning aliens," is contrary to the Constitution, one 
amendment in which has provided, that ''no person shall be deprived of liber- 
ty without due process of law," and. that another having provided, '• that in- 
all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a public trial by 
an impartial jury, to be informed as to tne nature and cause -of the accusation, 
to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process 
for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have assistance of counsel for his 
defence," the same act undertaking to authorise the President to remove a 
person out of the United States who is under the protection of the law, on his 
own suspicion, without jury, without public trial; without confrontation of the 
witnesses against him, without having witnesses m his favor, without defence, 
without counsel, .is contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution, is 
therefore not law, but utterly void and of no force. 

That transferring the power of judging any person who is under the pro- 
tection of the laws, from the courts to the President of the United States as /. 
is undertaken by the same act concerning aliens, is against the article of the * 
Constitution which provides, thaf, "the judiciai power of the United States 
shall be vested in the courts, the judges of which shall hold their office during 
good behavior," and that the said act is void for that reason also; and it is fur- 
ther to be noted that this transfer of.judiciary power is to that magistrate of 
the general government who already possesses all the executive, and a quali- 
fied negative in all the legislative powers. 

VII. Resolved, That the construction applied by the General Government 
(as is evident by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, which delegate to Congress, power to lay and col- 
lect taxes, duties, imposts, excises; to pay the debts, and provide for the com- 
mon defence, and general welfare of the United States, and to make all laws 
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers 
vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or any de- 
partment thereof, goes to the destruction of all the limits prescribed to their 
power by the Constitution — That words meant by that instrument to be subsi- 
diary only to the execution of the limited powers, ought not to be so construed 
as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part so to be taken, as to de- 
stroy the whole residue of the instrument: That the proceedings of the Gene- 
ral Government under color of those articles, will be a fit and necessary sub- 
ject for revisal and correction at a time of greater tranquillity, while those 
specified in the preceding resolutions call for immediate redress. 

VIII. Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be transmitted tothe Sen- 



18 

ators and Representatives in Congress from this commonwealth, who are en- 
joined to present the same to their respective houses, and to use their best en- 
deavors to procure at the next session of Congress, a repeal of the aforesaid 
unconstitutional and obnoxious acts. 

IX. Resolved lastly, That the governor of this commonwealth be, and is 
hereby authorised and requested to communicate the preceding resolutions to 
the legislatures of the several states, to assure them that this commonwealth 
considers union for special national purposes, and particularly for those speci- 
fied in their late federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness, and 
prosperity of all the states — that faithful to that compact, according to the 
plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by t^e 
several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation; that it does also 
believe, lhat to take from the states all the powers of self government, and 
transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the 
special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not 
for the peace, happiness, or prosperity of these states: And that therefore, this 
commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-states are, to submit to 
undelegated and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on 
earth: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would 
flow from them; that the general government may place any act they think 
proper on the list of crimes and punish it themselves whether enumerated or 
not enumerated, by the Constitution as cognizable by them; that they may- 
transfer its cognizance to the President or any other person, who may himself 
be the accuser, counsel, judge, and jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, 
his order tho. sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole re- 
cord of the transaction; that a very numerous and valuable description of the 
inhabitants of these states, being by this precedent reduced as out laws to the 
absolute dominion of one man and the barriers of the Constitution thus swept 
from us all; no rampart now remains against the passions and the power of a 
majority of Congress, to protect from a like exportation or other grievous pun- 
ishment the minority of the same body, the legislatures, judges, governors, 
and counsellors of the states, nor their other peaceable inhaoitants who may 
venture to reclaim the constitutional rights aud liberties of the states, and peo- 
ple, or who, for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the view or 
marked by the suspicions of the President, or to be thought dangerous to his 
or their elections or other interests, public or personal; that the friendless 
alien has been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment; but the citi- 
zen will soon follow, or rather has already followed; for, already has a sedi- 
tion act marked him as a prey: That these and successive acts of the same 
character, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend to drive these states in- 
to revolution and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against republican 
governments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be believed, that man 
cannot be governed but by a rod of iron; that it would be a dangerous delusion 
were a confidence in the men of our choi< c to silence our fears for the safety 
of our rights; that confidence is every whefce the parent of despotism; free 
government is founded in jealousy and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not 
confidence which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those whom we 
ai*e obliged to ttust with power; that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the 
limits to which and no farther our confidence may go; and let the honest advo 
cate of confidence read the alien and sedition acts, and say if the Constitu- 
tion has not been wise in fixing limits to the government it created, and whe- 
ther we should be wise in destroying those limits? JLet him say what the gov- 
ernment is. if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have confer- 
red on the President, and the President of our choice has assented to and ac- 
cepted over the friendly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our country and 
its laws had pledged hospitality and protection; that the men of our choice 



19 

have more respected the bare suspicions of the President than the solid rights of 
innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms 
and substance of law and justice. ( In questions of power then let no more be 
said of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of 
the Constitution. \ That this commonwealth does therefore call on 
\its co-states for an expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning 
aliens, and for the punishment of certain crimes herein before specified, plain- 
ly declaring whether these acts are or are not authorized by the federal com- 
pact. Audit doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their 
attachment to limited government* whether general or particular, and that the 
rights and lib*rties of their co-estates will be exposed to no dangers by remain- 
ing embarked on a common bottom with their own: But they will concur with 
this commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably against the Con- 
tention as to amount to an undisguised declaration, that the compact is not 
meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it 
will proceed in the exercise over these states of all powers whatsoever. That 
they will view this as seizing the rights of the states and consolidating them, 
in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed to bind the 
states (not merely in cases made federal) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws 
made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent-, that this 
would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under 
one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and 
that the co-slates recurring to their natural rights in cases not made federal, 
will concur in declaring these void and of no Fonc^and will each unite with 
this commonwealth in requesting their repeal at the next session of Congress. 

EDMUND BULLOCK, S. H. R. 
JOHN CAMPBELL, S. S. P T. 

Passed the House of Representatives, Nov. 10, 1798. 

Attest : THO'S. TODD, C. H. R. 

In SENATE, Nov 13, 1798 — Unanimously concurred in. 

Attest : B. THURSTON, C. S. 

Approved, November 19th, 1798. 

JAMES GARRARD, Governor of Kentucky. 

By the Governor : HARRY TOULMIN, Secretary of State. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Thursday, Nov. 14th, 1799. 

The House, according to the standing order of the day, resolved itself into 
a Committee of the Whole House, on the State of the Commonwealth, Mr. 
Desha in the Chair; and, after some time spent therein, the Speaker resumed 
the Chair, and Mr. Desha reported, that the Committee had taken under con- 
sideration sundry resolutions passed by several State Legislatures, on the sub- 
ject of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and had come to a resolution thereupon, 
which he delivered in at the Clerk's table, where it was read and unanimously 
agreed to by the House, as follows : 

The representatives of the good people of this Commonwealth, in General 
Asseoib v convened, having maturely considered the answers of sundry States 
in the U, ion, to their resolutions passed the last session, respecting certain 
unconstitutional laws of Congress, commonly called the Alien and Sedition 
Laws, would be faithless, indeed, to themselves and to those they represent,, 
were they silently to acquiesce in the principles and doctrines attempted to 
be maintained in all those answers, that of Virginia only excepted. To again 
enter the field' of argument, and attempt more fully or forcibly to expose 
the unconstitutionality of those obnoxious laws, would, it is apprehended, be 
as unnecessary as unavailing. We cannot, however, but lament, that, in the 
discussion of thos? interesting subjects, by sundry of the Legislatures of eur 
sister States, unfounded suggestions, andWcandid insinuations, derogatory t* 



S5&- 

the true character and principles of this Commonwealth has been substituted 
in place of fair reasoning and sound argument. Our opinions of these alarm- 
ing measures of the General Government, together with our reasons for those 
opinions, were detailed with decency, and with temper, and submitted to 
the discussion and judgment of our fellow-citizens throughout the Union. 
"Whether the like decency and temper have been observed in the answers of 
most of those States, who have denied or attempted to obviate thegr?at truths- 
contained in those resolutions, we have now only to submit to a candid world. 
Faithful to the true principles of the Federal Union, unconscious of any de- 
signs to disturb the harmony of that Union, and anxious only to escape the 
fangs of despotism, the good people of this Commonwealth are regardless of 
censure or calumniation. Least, however, the silence of this commonwealth 
should be construed into an acquiescence in the doctrines and principles ad- 
vanced and attempted to be maintained by the said answers* or least those of 
our fellow-citizens throughout the Union who so widely differ from us on those 
important subjects, should be deluded by the expectation, that we shall be de- 
terred from what we conceive our duty, or shrink from the principles contain- 
ed in those resolutions — therefjre, 

Resolved, That this Commonwealth considers the Federal Union, upon the 
terms and for the purposes specified in the late compact, as conducive to the 
liberty and happiness of the several States : That it does now unequivocal- 
ly declare its attachment to the Union, and to that compact, agreeably to its 
obvious and real intention, and will be among the last to seeK its dissolution: 
That if those who administer the General Government be permitted to trans- 
gress the limits fixed by that compact, by a total disregard to the special del- 
egations of power therein contained, an annihilation of the State Govern- 
ments, and the creation upon their ruins of a General Consolidated Govern- 
ment, will be the inevitable consequence: Thai" the principle and con- 
struction CONTENDED FOR Br SUNDRT OF THE STATE LEGISLATURES, 
THAT THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT IS THE EXCLUSIVE JUDGE OF THE 
MXTENf OF THE POJVERS DELEGATED TO IT, STOP NOTHING SHORT OF 
DESPOTISM—SINCE THE DISCRETION OF THOSE WHO ADMINISTER THE 
GOVERNMENT^ AND NOT THE CONSTITUTION. WOULD BE THE MEAS- 
URE of THEtiR powers: That the several States who formed that instru- 
ment being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to 
fudge of the infraction; and, THAT A NULLIFICATION BY THOSE 
SOVEREIGNTIES, OF ALL UNAUTHORIZED ACTS DONE UN- 
DER, COLOR OF THAT INSTRUMENT IS THE RIGHTFUL REM- 
EDY: That this Commonwealth does, under the most deliberate reconside- 
ration, declare, that the said Alien and Sedition Laws are, in their opinion, 
alpable violations of the said Constitution; and, however cheerfully it may 
e disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of its sister States, in mat- 
ters of ordinary or doubtful policy, yet, in no momentous regulations like the 
S resent, which so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consi- 
er a silent acquiescence as highly criminal: That although this Common- 
wealth, as a party to the Federal compact, will bow to the laws of the Union, 
yet, it does, at the same time declare, that it will not now, or ever hereafter, 
cease to oppose in a constitutional manner, every attempt at what quarter so- 
ever offered, to violate that compact. And, finally, in order that no pretext or 
arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence, on the part of this 
Commonwealth in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as 
precedents for similar future violations of the Federal compact — this Com- 
monwealth does now enter against them its SOLEMN PROTEST. 

Extract, &c. Attest, THO'S TODD, C. H R« 

la SENATE, Nov. 22, 17.99— Read and concurred in. 

Attest, B, THURSTON, C. S. 



I 



m 

*MR MADISON'S REPORT ON THE VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS. 

VIRGINIA.— House of Delegates, Session of 1799—1 800. 

^Report of the Committee to whom were referred the- communications of various 
States, relative to the Resolutions of the lust General Assembly of this State, 
concerning the Allen and Sedition Laws. 

Whateverroom might be found in the proceedings Of some of theStates,whohave 
disapproved of the resolutions of the General Assembly of this Commonwealth, 
-passed on the 21st day of December, 1798, for painful remarks on the spirit 
and manner of those proceedings, it appears to tne committee most consistent 
with the duty as well as dignity of the General Assembly, to hasten an oblivion 
of every circumstance, which might be construed into a diminution of mutual 
respect, confidence and affection, among the members of the Union. 

The committee have deemed it a more useful task to revise, with & critical 
eye, the resolutions which have met with this disapprobation; to examine fully 
the several objections and arguments which have appeared against them; and 
to inquire whether -there can be any errors of fact, of principle, or of reasoning, 
which the candor of tire General Assembly ought to acknowledge and correct. 
The first of the resolutions is in the words following: 

'» Resolved, That the General Assembly of Virginia doth unequivocally ex- 
press a firm resolution to maintain and defend the constitution of the United 
States, and the constitution of this State, against every aggression, either 
foreign or 'domestic, and that they will support the Government of the U. States 
%in all measures warranted by the former." 

No unfavorable comment can have been made on the sentiments here ex- 
pressed. To maintain and defend the constitution of the United States, and 
of their own State, against every aggression, both foreign and domestic, and 
^to support the Government cfthe United States in all measures warranted by 
vtheir constitution, are duties which the General Assembly ought always to feel, 
and to which, on such an occasion, Ft was evidently proper to express their 
sincere and firm adherence. 

In their next resolution-—" The General* Assembly most solemnly declctres-a 
-warm attachment to the union of the States, to maintain ivhich, it pledges all its 
.powers ; and that, for this end, it is their duty to watch over and oppose eve- 
ry infraction of those principles* ivhich constitute the-only basis of that Union, 
because a faithful observance of them can alone secure its existence and the, 
public happiness." 

The observation just made is equally applicable to this solemn declaration, 
.-of warm attachment to the Union, and- this solemn pledge to maintain it; nor 
-can any question arise among enlightened friends of the Union, as to the duty 
*>f watching ever and opp>sing every infraction of those principles which con- 
stitute its basis, and a faithful observance of which, can alone secure its exis- 
tence, and the public happiness thereon depending. 
The tltird resolution is in the words following^ 
^ " That this assembly doth explicitly aud peremptorily declare, that it views 
The powers of the Federal Government, ns resulting from the compact, to which 
(he states are parties, &s limited by the plain sense and intention of the instm* 
ment cotistitufing that compact — as no further valid than.they are authorised 
by the grants enumerated in that compact-, ana that in case of a deliberate^ 
palpable and dangerous exercise ®f other powers, not granted by the said com- 
pact, the states who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, 
to interpose, for arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within 
their respective limits, the authorities^ rights and liberties appertaining to 
them. 

On this resolution, the committee have bestowed all the attention which its 
importance merits: They have scanned it npt merely with a strict, but with a 
severe eye; and they feel confidence in pronouncing, that, in its just and fair 



22 

cbnstruction, it ra unexceptionabhj true in its several pps'U ions, as well as uoiv- 
stitu tional and conclusive in its inferences 

The resolution declares; first* that "it views the powers of the Federal 
Government, as resulting from the compact to which the states are parties," 
in other words, that the federal powers are derived from the Constitution; 

AND THAT THE CONSTITUTION IS A COMPACT TO WHICH THE STATES ARE PAR- 
TIES- 

Clear as the position must seem, that the Federal powers are derived from 
the Constitution, and from that alone, the committee are not unapprised of a 
late doctrine, which opens Another source of federal powers, not less exten- 
sive and important, than it is new and unexpected. The examination of -this 
doctrine will be most conveniently connected with a review of a succeeding 
resolution. The committee satisfy themselves here with briefly remarking, 
that in all the contemporary discussions and comments which the Constitu- 
tion underwent, it was constantly justified and recommended, on the ground 
that the powers not given to the government, were withheld from it; and, that 
if any doubt could have existed on this subject, under the original text of the 
Constitution, it is removed, as far as words could remove it, by the 12th amend- 
in ent, now a part of the Constitution, which expressly declares, C: that the 
powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited 
by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." 

The other position involved in this branch of the resolution, namely, "that 
the states are parties to the Constitution or compact, is, in the judgment of 
the committee, equally free from objection. It is indeed true, that the term 
'states,' is sometimes used in a vague sense, and sometimes in different senses', 
according to the subject to which it is applied. Thus, it sometimes means the 
separate sections of territory occupied by the political societies within each; 
sometimes the particular governments, established by those societies; some- 
times those societies are organized into those particular governments; and last- 
ly, it means the people composing those political societies, in their highest 
sovereign capacity. Although it might be wished that the perfection of lan- 
guage admitted less diversity in the signification of the same words, yet little 
inconvenience is produced by it, where the true sense can be collected with 
certainty from the different applications. In the present instance, whatever 
different construction of the term * states,' in the resolution may havebeen en- 
tertained, all will at least concur in that last mentioned; because in that sense, 
the constitution was submit led to the ^stales," in that sense the " states ratifi- 
ed it: and in that sense of the term i; states " they are consequently parties to 
the compact from which the powers of the Federal Government 'result. 

The next positionn is, that the General Assembly views the powers of the* 
Federal Government, "as limited by the plain sense and intention of the in- 
strument constituting that compact," and "«s no farther valid than they are 
authorized by the grants therein enumerated" It does not seem possible, that 
any just objection can lie against either of these clauses. The first amounts 
merely to a declaration, that the compact ought to have the interpretation 
plainly intended by the parties to it; the other to a declaration, that it ought 
toliave the execution and effect intended by them. If the powers granted 
be valid, it is solely because they are granted; and if the granted powers are 
valid, because granted, all other powers not granted, must not be valid. 

The resolution having taken this view of the Federal compact, proceeds to 
infer, ''That", in case of a deliberate, palpab.le, and dangerous 

EXERCISE OF OTHER POWERS, NOT GRANTED BT THE SAID COMPACT. THE 
STATES, WHO ARE PARTIES THERETO, HAVE THE RIGHT AND ARE IN DU* 
TV BOUND TO INTERPOSE FOR ARRESTING THE PROGRESS OF THE EVIL, 
AND FOR MAINTAINING WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE LIMITS, THE, AUTHQ- 
RITIES, RIGHTS, AND LIBERTIES APPERTAINING TO THEM" 

It appears, to your committee to-be a plain principle, founded in common 
sense, illustrated by common practice, and essential to the nature of com- 
pacts— -that, where resort can be had to no tribunal superior to tub av- 



23 

THORlTT OF THE PARTIES, THE PARTIES THEMSELVES -MUST BE THE 
RIGHTFUL JUDGES IN THE LAST RESORT, IVHETHER THE BARGAIN MADE 

has been pursued or violated. The constitution of the United States, 
was formed by the sanction of the States, given by each in its sovereign ca- 
pacity. It adds to the stability and dignity, as well as to the authority of the 
constitution, that it rests on this legitimate and solid foundation. The states, 
then, being the parties to the constitutional compact, and in their sovereign ca- 
parity, it follows of necessity, that there can be no tribunal above their author- 
ity, to decide on the last resort, whether the compact made by them be violated^ 
and, consequently, that, as the parties to it, they must themselves decide in the 
last resort, such questions as may be of sufficient magnitude to require their in- 
terposition. 

It does not follow, however, that because the States, as sovereign parties 
to their constitutional compact, must ultimately decide whether it has been 
violated, that such a decision ought to be interposed, either in a hasty man- 
ner, or. on doubtful and inferior occasions. Even in the case of ordinary 
conventions between different nations, where, by the strict rule of interpreta- 
tion a breach of a part may be deemed a breach of the whole; every part be- 
ing deemed a condition of every other part, and of the whole, it is always laid 
-down that the breach must be both wilful and material to justify an applica- 
tion of the rule. But in the case of an intimate and constitutional union, like 
-hat of the United States, it is evident that the interposition of the parties, 
in their sovereign capacity, can be called for by occasions only, deeply and 
essentially affecting the vital principles of their political system. 

The resolution has, accordingly, guarded against any misapprehension of 
Irs object, by expressly requiring for such an interposition, "the case of a de- 
liberate, palpable, and dangerous breach of the constitution, by the exercise 
of powers not granted by it." It must be a case not of a light and transient 
nature, but of a nature dangerous to the great purposes for which the con- 
stitution was established. It must be a case, moreover, not obscure or doubt- 
ful in its construction, but plain and palpable. Lastly, it must be a case not 
resulting from a partial consideration, or hasty determination; but a case 
stampt with a final consideration and deliberate adherence. It is not necessa- 
ry, because the resolution does not require, that the question should be dis- 
cussed, how far the exercise of any particular power, ungranted by the con- 
stitution, would justify the interposition of the parties to it As cases might 
easily be stated, which none would contend ought to fall within that descrip- 
tion-leases, on the other hand, might with equal ease, be stated, so fla- 
grant and so fatal, as to unite every opinion in placing them within the 
description. 

But the resolution has done more than guard against misconstruction, by 
expressly referring to cases of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous nature. 
It specifies the object of the interposition which it contemplates, to be solely 
that of arresting the progress of the evil of usurpation, and of main- 
taining the authorities, rights and liberties appertaining to the 
States, as parties to the Constitution. 

From this view of the resolution, it would seem inconceivable that it can, 
incur any just disapprobation from those, who, laying aside all momentary 
impressions, and recollecting the genuine source and object of the Federal 
Constitution, shall candidly and accurately interpret the meaning of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. If the deliberate exercise of dangerous powers, palpably 
withheld by the Constitution, could not justify the parties to it, in interposing 
even so far as to arrest the progress of the evil, and thereby to preserve the 
Constitution itself, as well as to provide for the safety of the parties to it« 
there would be an end to all relief from usurped power, and a direct subver- 
sion of the rights specified or recognised under all the State Constitutions, as 
well as a plain denial of the fundamental principle on which our independence 
itself was declared; 






24r 

But it is objected, -that the judicial authority i9 to be regarded as the- 
Sole expositor of the Constitution in the last resorts and it niay.be asked foi? 
what reason, the declaration by the General Assembly, supposing' it to be 
theoretically true, could be required *t the present day, and in so solemn a - 
manner. 

On this objection it mi^ht be observed, ^rs/:4hat there may be instances 
of usurped power, which the forms of the Constitution would never draw 
within the control of the Judicial department : secondly, that if the decision -■■ 
of the Judiciary be raised above the authority of the sovereign parties to the 
Constitution, the decisions of the other departments, not carried by the forms 
of the Constitution before the Judiciary, must be equally authoritative and, 
final with the decisions of that department. But the proper answer to the 
objection is, that the resolution of the General Assembly relates -to those • 
great and extraordinary cases, in which all the forms of the Constitution may 
prove ineffectual against infractions dangerous to the essential rights ot the 
parties to it. The resolution supposes that dangerous powers not delegated, 
may not only be usurped and executed by the other departments, but that the 
Judicial department, also, may exercise or sanction dangerous powers beyond ■•- 
the grant of the Constitution j and, consequently, that the ultimate right o£" 
the parties to the Constitution, to judge whether the compact has been dan-. -~ 
gerously violated, must extend to violations by one delegated authority, as 
well as by another ; by the Judiciary, as well as -by the Executive, or the Le« 
gislature. 

However true, therefore, it may be that the Judicial department is, in all 
questions submitted to it by the forms of the Constitution, to decide in the 
last resort, this resort must necessarily be deemed the last in relation to the ■ 
authorities ot the other departments of the Government ; not in relation to 
the rights of the parties to the Constitutional compact, from which the Judi- 
cial as well as the other departments hold their delegated trusts. On any 
other hypothesis, the delegation of Judicial power would annul the authority 
delegating it f and the concurrence of this department with the others in' 
usurped powers, might subvert forever, and beyond the possible reach of any 
rightful remedy, the very Constitution, which all were instituted to preserve. 

The truth declared in the resolution being established, the expediency of 
making the declaration at tlu- present day, may safely be left to the temperate 
consideration and candid judgment of the American public. Ifr-will be re- 
membered, that a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, is solemnly 
enjoined by most of the State Constitutions, and particularly by our own, as 
a necessary safeguard against the danger of degeneracy to which Republics 
are liable, as well as other Governments, though in a less degree than others. 
And a fair comparison of the political doctrines not unfrequent at the present 
day, with those which characterized the epoch of our Revolution, and which 
form the basis of our Republican Constitutions, will best determine whether 
the declaratory recurrence here made to those principles, ought to be viewed e 
as unseasonable and improper, or as a vigilant discharge of an important duty. 
The authority of Constitutions over Governments, and of the sovereignty of 
the people over Constitutions, are truths which are at all times necessary to 
be kept in mind ; and at no time, perhaps, more necessary than at present. 

The fourth resolution stands as follows : 

"That the General Assembly doth also express its deep regret, that a spirit 
has in sundry instances, been manifested by tbe Federal Government, to enlarge its powers by 
forced constructions of the constitutional charter which defines them ; and that indications have 
appeared of a design to expound certain general phrases (which, having heen copied from the ve- 
ry limited grant of powers in the former articles of confederation, were the less liable to be mis- 
construed,) so as to destroy the meaning and effect of the particular enumeration which necessari- 
ly explains, and limits the general phrases; and so as to consolidate the States by degrees, into 
one sovereignty, the obvious tendency and inevitable result of which would be to transform the 
present republican system of the United Slates into an absolute, or at best a mixed monarchy." 
The Jlrst question here to be considered is, whether a spirit has-in sundry instances been mani- 

-d by the Federal goverauociit-to. ealarge its powers by forced constructions ot rtiei -ctmstitn* 
harter. 



25 

The General Assembly having declared their opinion, merely, by regretting in general terras, 
that forced constructions for enlarging the Federal powers have taken place, it does not appear to- 
the committee necessary to go into a specification of every instance to which the resolution may al- 
lude. The Alien and Sedition acts being particularly named in a succeeding resolution, are of 
course to be understood as included in the allusion. Omitting others which have less occupied 
public attention, or been less extensively regarded as unconstitutional, the resolution may be pre- 
sumed to refer particularly to the Bank Law, which from the circronstances-cf its passage, as well 
as the latitude of construction on which it is founded, strikes the attention with singular force, and 
the carriage tax, distinguished also by circumstances in its history having a similar tendency. 
Those instances alone, if resulting from forced construction, and calculated to enlarge the powers 
of the Federal Government, as the committee cannot but conceive to be the case, sufficiently war- 
rant this part of the resolution. The committee have not thought it incumbent on them "to "ex- 
tend then* attention to laws which have been objected to, rather as varying the constitutional dis- 
tribution of powers in the Federal Government, than as an absolute enlargement of them; be- 
cause instances of this sort, however important in their principles and tendencies, do not appear 
to fall strietly within the text under review. 

The other questions presenting themselves, are — 1. Whether indications have appeared of a de- 
sign to expound certaiu general phrases copied from the "Articles of Confederation;" so as to de- 
stroy the effect of the particular enumeration explaining and limiting their meaning. 2. Whe- 
ther this exposition would by degrees consolidate the Slates into one sovereignty. 3. Whether 
the tendency and result of this consolidation would be to transform the republican system of the 
U. States into a monarchy. 

1. The general phrases here meant roust be those "of providing;for the common defence and 
general welfare." 

In the "Ai'ticlcs of Confederation" the phrases are used as follows, in Art. VIIF. "All charg- 
es of war, and all other expences that shall be incurred for the common defence and general wel- 
fare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a com- 
mon treasury, which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion to the value of all land 
within each State, granted t~., or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and im- 
provements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode as the United States in Congress 
assembled, shall from time direct and appoint." 

In the existing Constitution, they make the following part of Sec. 8: "The Congress shall 
have power, to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for 
the common defence and general welfare of the United States." 

This similarity in the use of these phrases in the two great Federal charters, might well be 
considered, as rendering their meaning less liable to be misconstrued in the latter : because it 
will scarcely be said, that in the former, they were ever understood to be either a general grant of 
power, or to authorize the requisition or application of money by the old Congress to the com- 
mon defence and geueral welfare, except in cases afterwards enumerated, which explained and 
limited their meaning ; and if such was the limited meaning attached to these phrases in the very 
instrument revised and remodeled by the present Constitution, it can never be supposed that 
when copied into this Constitution, a different meaning ought to be attached to them. 

That, notwithstanding this remarkable security against misconstruction, a design has been indi- 
cated to expound these phrases in the Constitution, so as to destroy the effect of the particular 
enumeration of powers by which it explains and limits them, must have fallen under the observa- 
tion of those who have attended to the course of public transactions. Not to multiply proofs on 
this subject, it will suffice to refer to the debates of the Federal Legislature, in which arguments* 
have on different occasions been drawn, with apparent effect, from these phrases, in their indefin- 
ite meaning. 

To these indications might be added, without looking farther, the official report on manufac- 
tures by the late Secretary of the Treasury, made on the 5th of December, 1791 ; and the report 
of a Committee of Congress, in January, 17U7, on the promotion of agriculture. In the first of 
these it is expressly contended to belong "to the discretion of the National Legislature to pro- 
nounce upon the objects which concern the general welfare, and for which, under that descrip- 
tion, an appropriation of money is requisite -nd proper. And there seems to be no room for a 
doubt, that whatever concerns the general interests of learning, of agriculture, of manufac- 
tures, and of commerce, are within the sphere of National Councils, as far as regards an ap- 
plication of money." The latter report assumes the same latitude of power in the National Cpun- , 
cils, and applies it to the encouragement of agriculture, by means of a society to be established 
at the seat of Government. Although neither of these reports may have received the sanction of 
a law carrying it into effect j yet, on the other hand, the extraordinary doctrine contained in both, 
has passed without the slightest positive mark of disapprobation from the authority to which it 
was addressed. 

Now, whether the phrases in question be construedto authorize every measure relating to the 
eommon defence and general welfare, as contended by some; or every measure only in which 
there might be an application of money, as suggested by the caution of others; the effect must 
substantially be the same, in-destroying the import and force of the particular enumeration of 
powers which follow these general phrases in the Contitution. For, it is evident, that there is 
not a single power whatever, which may not have some reference to the common defence, or the 
general welfare \ nor a power of any magnitude, which, in its exercise, does not involve or admit 
an application of money. The Government, therefore, which possesses power in either one or 
other of these extents, is a Government without the limitations formed by a particular enumera- 
tion of powers ; and «onsequently, the meaning and effect of this particular enumeration, is de- 
stroyed by the exposition given to these general phrases. 

This conclusion will not be affected by an attempt to qualify the power over the "general wel- 
fare," by referring it to cases where the general welfare is beyond live reach of the separate-pro - 



26 

iSjaonsby the individual States; and leaving to these their jurisdiction s.iu cases, to which thee.' 
separate provisions may he competent. For, as the authority of the individual States must malt 
cases be incompetent to general regulations operating through the whole, the authority ot the L . 
States would be extended to everv object relating to the general welfare, which might, by_any 
possibility, be provided for by the "general authority. This qualifying construction, therefore, 
would have little, if any tendency, to circumscribe the power claimed under the latitude ot the 
terms '5 general welfare. " . . ■"' 

The true snd fair construction? of this expression, both in the original and existing General com- 
pacts, appears to the Committee too obvious to be mistaken. In both, the Congress is authoris- 
ed to provide money for the common defence and creneralrjelfare. In both, is subjoined to this 
authority, an entimetation of the cases, to which their powers shall extend . Money cannot be ap- 
plied to'the general ive 1 fare, otherwise than by an application of it to some particular measure, 
conducive to'the general welfare. Whenever, therefore, money lias been raised by the general 
authority, and is to be applied to a particular measure, a question arises whether the particular 
measure be within t%e enumerated authorities vested in Congress. If it be, the money requisite 
fur it, mav be applied to it ; If it be not, no such application can be made. This fair ami obvious 
interpretation coincides with, and is enforced by, the clause in the Constitution, which declares, 
that "no money shall be drawn from the treasuarv, but in consequence of appropriations made by 
law." An appropriation of monev.to the general welfare, would be deemed rather a mockery 
than an observance of this Constitutional injunction. 

2. Whether the exposition of the general phrases here combatted, would not, by degrees, con- 
eel idate the States into one sovereignty, is a question, concerning which the Committee can per- 
ceive little room for difference of opinion. To consolidate .the States into one sovereignty, no- 
thing more can be wanted than to supersede their respective sovereignties m the cases reserved to 
them, by extending the sovereignty of the United States, to all cases of the 'general wellare," 
that is to s:W, to till cases -ehaiever. ' . 

3. That the obvious tendency and inevitable result of a consolidation of the States into qne 
sovereignty, wouh! be to transform the republican system of the United States into a monarchy, is 
a point which seems to have been sufhVu'ntlv decided bv the general sentiment of America, hi 
almost every instance of discussion relating to the consolidation in question, its certain tendency 
to pave the wav to monarchy, seems not to have been contested. The prospect ot such a coin 
solidation has formed the onlv topic of controversy . It would be unnecessary, therefore, .or the 
committee to dwell long on the reasons which support the position of the General Assembly. It 
m-.v not be improper, however, to remark two consequences, evidently flowing from an extension 
of the Federal power to every subject falling within the idea of the "general welfare. _ ^ 

One consequence must be to enlarge the sphere of discretion allotted to the Executive Magis- 
trate. Even within the legislative' limits properly defined by the Constitution, the chmeulty Ot 
accommodating legal regulations to a countrv so great in extent, and so various in its circumstan- 
ces, has been much felt ; and has led io occasional investments of power in the Executive, which, 
involve perhaps as large a portion of discretion as can be deemed consistent with the nature ot the 
Executive trust. In proportion as the objects of legislative care might be multiplied, would the 
time allowed for each be diminished, and 'the difficulty of providing Uniterm ami particular regu- 
lations fir all, be increased. From these sources would necessarily ensue a greater latitude to 
the a-ency of that department which is always in existence, and which could best mould regula- 
tions' of a general nature, so as to suit them to the diversity of particular situations. And it is m 
this latitude, as a supplement to the deficiency Jf the laws,- that the degree ot Executive prerog- 
ative materially consists. . . 

The other consequence would be. that of an excessive augmentation of the offices, honors, anil 
emoluments depending on the Executive will. Add to the present legitimate stock all those ol 
every description which a consolidation of the States would take from them, and turnover to the 
Federal Government, and the patronage of the Executive would necessarily be as much swell- 
ed in this case as its prerogative would be in the other. 

This disproportionate increase of prerogative. and patronage, must evidently either enable the 
Chfcf Magistrate of the Union, by quiet means, to secure his re-election trom time to time, and 
finally, Jo regulate the succession as he might please ; or, bv giving so transcendent an importance 
to the office, would render the elections to it so violent and corrupt, that the public voice itselt 
might call for an hcreditarv, in place of an elective succession. Which ever ot these events 
might follow, the transformation of the republican system of the United States into a monarchy, 
anticipated bv the General Assembly from a consolidation of the States into one sovereignty, 
would be equally accomplished ; and whether it would be into a mixed or an absolute monarchy, 
might depend on too many contingencies to admit of any certain foresight. 

Tiie resolution next in order is contained in the following terms r .... 

■ That the General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming in- 
fractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the "Alien and Sedition Acts," passed 
at the last session of Congress ; the first of which exercises a rower no where delegated to 
the Federal Government ; and which, by uniting legislative and judicial powers to those of ex- 
ecutive, subverts the general principles of free government, as well as the particular organization 
and positive provisions of the Federal Constitution, anil the other of fvhich acts exercises, in like. 
maiiner, a power not delegated by the Constitution, but, on the contrary, expressly and positively 
forbidden by one of the amendments thereto; a power, more than any other, ought to produce 
universal alarm; bfwause it is levelled against that right of freely examining public characters and 
measures; and of free communication' among the people thereon, which has ever been justly 
Jeemed the only effectual guardian of every other right." 

The subject of this resolution, having, it 'is presumed, more particularly led the General As- 
sembly into the proceedings which they communicated to the other States, and being in itself of 
peculiar importance, it deserves the most critical and faithful .Investigation ; for the length 
vliieli no other apology will be necessary. 



21 

The subject divides itself hit ojtf&t, 
" The Alien Act," secondly, " The Sedition Act." 

Of the ** Alien Act," it is affirmed by the resolution, Hi. That ic exercises a poorer no 
where delegated to the Federal Government. 2. That it unites legislative and judicial powers 
to those of die exe- utiye. 2d. That tiiis union of power subverts the general principles of free 
government. 4. That it subverts the particular organization and positive provisions of the Fed- 
eral Constitution. 

In order to clear the way for a correct view of the first position, several observations will Lg 
premised. 

In the first place, it is to he borne in mind, that it being a characteristic feature of the Federal 
Constitution, as it was originally ratified, and an amendment thereto having precisely declared-^ 
i: that the powers not delegated" to the United Sfatec by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to 
flie States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," it is incumbent in this, as 
in. every other exercise of power by the Federal Government, to prove from the Constitution, that 
it grants the particular power exercised. 

The next observation to be made is, that miieh confusion and fallacy have been thrown into thy 
question, by bten ding the two cases of aliens, members i of 'a hostile nation; and aliens, mem- 
bers of friendly nations. These two cases arc so obviously and so essentially distinct, that it 
occasions no litiie surprise that the distinction should have been disregarded ; and the surprise i* 
so much the greater, as it appears that the twojeases are actually distinguished by two separate 
acts of Congress, passed at the same session, and comprised in the same publication; the one 
providing for the case of " alien enemies ;" the other li concerning aliens'' indiscriminately, and 
consequently extending to aliens of every nation in peace and amity with the United States. Willi 
respect to alien enemies, no doubt has been intimated as to the federal authority over them ; the 
constitution having expressly delegated to Congress the power to declare war against any nation, 
and of course to treat-it and all its members as enemies. With respect to aliens who are not ene- 
mies,, but members of nations in peace and amity with the United States, the power assumed by 
the act of Congress, is denied to be constitutional ; and it is accordingly against this act that the 
protest of the General Assembly is expressly and exclusively directed. 

A third observation is, that were it admitted, as is contended that the " act concerning aliens/'- 
liasfor its object, not a penal, but a preventive justice, it would still remain to be proved that it. 
comes within the constitutional power of the federal legislature ; and if within its power, that the 
legislature has exercised it in a constitutional manner. 

In the administration of preventive justice, the following principles have been held sacred ; 
'hat some probable ground of suspicion be exhibited before some judicial authority ; that it be 
supported by oath or affirmation ; that the party may avoid being thrown into confinement, bv 
finding pledges or sureties for his legal conduct sufficient in the judgement of some judicial au- 
thority that he may have the benefit of a writ of habeas corpus, and thus obtain his release, if 
wrongfully confined • and that he may at any time be discharged from his recognizance, or his 
confinement, and restored to his former liberty and rights ; on the order of the proper judicial au- 
thority, if it shall 6ee sufficient cause. 

All these principles of the only preventive justice known to American jurisprudence, are vio- 
lated by the alien act. The ground of suspicion is to be judged of not by any judicial authority, 
hut by the Executive Magistrate alone; no oath or affirmation is required; if the suspicion be 
held reasonable by the President, he may order the suspected alien to depart from the territory cf 
the United States, without the opportunity of avoiding die sentence, by finding pledges for his 
future good conduct ; as the President may limit the time of departure as he pleases, the benefit 
of the writ of habeas corpus, may be suspended with respect to the party, although the constitu- 
tion ordains, that it shall not be suspended, unless when the pnbiic safety may require it in case of 
rebellion or invasion, neither of which existed at the passage of the act ; and the party, being un- 
der the sentence of the President, either removed from the United States, or being punished by 
imprisonment, or disqualification ever to become a citizen on conviction of not obeying the order* 
of removal, he cannot be discharged from the proceedings against him, and restored to the bene- 
fits of his former situation, although the highest judicial authority should see the most sufficient 
cause for it. 

But, in the last place, it can never he admitted that the removal of aliens, authorized by the 
act, is to be considered, not as punishment for an offence, but as a measure of precaution and 
prevention. If the banishment of an alien from a country into which he has been invited, as the 
asylum most auspicious to his happiness : a country where he may have formed the most tender 
connexions ; where he may have invested his entire property, and acquired property of the real 
and permanent, as well as the moveable and temporary kind ; where he enjoys under the laws, 
a greater share of the blessings of personal security, and personal liberty, than he can elsewhere 
hope for ; and where he may have nearly completed his probationary title to citizenship ; if, 
moreover, in the execution of the sentence against him, he is to he exposed, not only to the ordi- 
nary dangers of the sea, but to the peculiar casualties incident to a crisis of war, and of unusual 
licentiousness on that element, and possibly to vindictive purposes which his emigration itselt* 
may have provoked ; if a banishment of this sort he not a punishment, and among the severest of 
punishments, it will be difficult to imagine a doom to which the name can be applied. And if it 
be a punishment, it will remain to be inquired, whether it can be constitutionally indicted, on 
mere suspicion, by the single will of the Executive Magistrate, on persons convicted of no perso- 
nal offence against the laws of the land, nor involved in any offence against the law of nation*, 
charged on the foreign state of which they are members. 

One argument offered in justification of this power exercised over aliens, is, that the admission 
of them into the country being of favor, not of right, the favor is at all times, revocable. 

To thils argument it might be answered, that allowing the truth of the inference, it would be 
on proof of what is required. A question would still occur, whether the constitution had rested 



28 

the discretionary power of admitting- aliens, in the federal government or in the State govern* 
Tments. 

But it cannot be a true inference, that because the admission of an alien is a favor, the favor 
may be revoked at. pleasure. A grant of land to an individual may be of favor, not of right ; but 
the moment the grant is made the favor becomes a right, and must be forfeited before it can be 
taken away. To pardon a malefactor may be a favor, 'but the pardon is not, on that account, the 
less irrevocable. To admit an alien to naturalization, 13 as much a favor asto admit him to reside? 
In the country, yet it cannot be pretended, that a person naturalized ean be deprived of the bene- 
fits any more than a native citizen can be disfranchised. 

Again, it is said, that aliens not being parties to the constitution, the rights and privileges which 
it secures, cannot be at all claimed by them. 

To this reasoning also, it might be answered, that although aliens are not parties to the consti- 
tution, it does not follow that the constitution has vested in Congress an absolute power over then*. 
The parties to the constitution may have granted, or retained, or modified the power over aliens, 
•without regard to that particular consideration, > 

But a snore direct reply is, that.it does not follow, because aliens are not parties to the constitu- 
tion, as citizens are parties to it, that whilst they actually xonform to it, they have no right to ita 
protection. Aliens are not more parties to the laws than they are parties to the constitution ; yet, 
Jf. will not be disputed, that as they owe on one hand a temporary obedience they are entitled in 
Return to their protection and advantage. 

If aliens had no rights under the constitution they might not only be banished, but even capitally 
punished, without a jury or the other incidents to a fair trial. But so far has a contrary principle 
been carried, in every part of the United States, that except on charges of treason, an alien has, 
besides all the common privileges, the special one of being tried by a jury, of which one-half may 
be also aliens. 

It is said, further, that by the law and practice of nations, aliens' may be removed at discretion 
for offences against the law of nations ; that Congress are authorized to define and punish such 
offences ; and that to be dangerous to the peace of society is, in aliens, one of those offences. 

The distinction between. alien enemies and alien friends, is a clear and conclusive answer to this 
argument. Alien enemies are under the law of nations, and liable to be punished for offences 
against it. Alien friends, except in the single case of public ministers, are under the municipal 
law, and must be tried and punished according to thatlaw only. 

This argument also, by referring the alien act, to the power of Congress to define and punish 
offences against the law of nations, yields the point that the act is of a penal, not merely by a pre-- 
yentitive operation. It must, in truth, be so considered. And if it be a penal act, the punish- 
ment it inflicts, must be justified by some offence that deserves it. 

Offences for which aliens, within the jurisdiction of a country, are punishable, are first, offences 
committed by the nation of which they make a part, and in whose offences they are involved. 
Secondly, offences committed by themselves alone, without any charge against the nation to which 
>they belong. The first is the case of alien enemies ; the second the case of alien friends. In the 
iirstxase, the offending nation can no otherwise be punished than by war, one of the laws of which 
authorizes the expulsion of such of its members, as may be found within the country, against 
■which the offence has been committed. In the second case, the offence being committed by the 
individual, not by his nation, and against the municipal law, not against the lav/ of nations; the 
individual only, and not the nation, is punishable ; and the punishment must be conducted accord- 
ing to the municipal law, uot according to -the law of nations. Under *this view of the subject, the 
act of Congressfor the removal of alien enemies, being conformable to the law of nations, is jus- 
tified by the Constitution ; and the " act" for the removal of alien friends, being repugnant to 
'the constitutional principles of municipal law, is unjustifiable. 

Nor is the act of Congress for the removal of alien friends, more agreeable to the general 
practice of nations, than it is within the purview of the law of nations. The general practice of 
nations distinguishes between alien friends and alien enemies. The latter it has proceeded against 
according to the law of nations, by expelling them as enemies. The former it has considered as 
under a local and temporary allegiance, and entitled to a correspondent protection. If contrary in- 
stances are to be found in barbarousceoun tries, under undefined prerogatives, or amid revolution- 
ary dangers, they will not be deemed fit precedents for the government of the United States, even 
if not beyond its constitutional authority. 

It ie said that Congress may grant letters of marque and reprisal ; that reprisals may be made 
•on persons as well as property ; and that the removal of Aliens may be considered as the exer- 
cise in an inferior degree, of the general power of reprisal on persons. 

Without entering minutely into a question that does not seem to require it, it may be remarked 
that reprisal is a seizure of foreign persons or property, with a view to obtain that justice for in- 
juries done by one State or its members, to another State or its members; for which a refusal of 
the aggressors requires such a resort to force under the law of nations. It must be considered as 
an abuse of words, to call the removal of persons from a country, a seizure or a reprisal on them : 
nor is the distinction to he overlooked between reprisals on persons within the country and under 
■the faith of its laws, and on persons out of the country. But laying aside these considerations, it 
-is evidently impossible to bring the alien act within the power of granting reprisals ; since it does 
not allege or imply any injury received from any particular nation, for which this proceeding 
against its members was intended as a reparation. 

The proceeding is authorized against aliens of every nation ; of nations charged neither with 
any similar proceedings against American citizens, nor with any injuries for which justice might 
be sought, in the mode prescribed by the act. Were it true, therefore, that good causes existed 
for reprisals against one or more foreign nations, and that neither the persons nor property of its 
members, under the faith of our laws, could plead an exemption ; the operation of the act ought 
*o have been limited to the aliens among us, belonging to 9ueh nation?, To license reprisal 



29 

sga'inst all nations, for aggressions charged on one only, would be a measure as contrary to every 
principle of justice and public law, as to a wise policy, and the universal practice of nations. 

It is said, that the right of removing aliens, is an incident to the power of war, vested in Con- 
gress by the Constitution. 

This is a former argument in a new shape only ; and is answered by repeating, that the re- 
moval of alien enemies is an incident, to the power of war; that the removal of alien friends is not 
an incident to the power of war- 
It is said, that Congress are by the Constitution to protect each State agains invasion ; and that 
the means of preventing invasion are included in the power of protection against it. 

The power of war, in general, having been before granted by the Constitution, this clause 
must either be a mere specification for greater caution and certainty of which there are other ex- 
amples in the instrument ; or be the injunction of a duty, superadded to a grant of the power. 
Under either explanation, it cannot enlarge the powers of Congress on the subject. The power 
and the duty to protect each State against an invading enemy, would be the same under the general 
power, if this regard to greater caution had been omitted. 

Invasion is an operation of war. To protect against invasion is an exercise of the power of war, 
A power, therefore, not incident to war, cannot be incident to a particular modification of war. 
And as the removal of alien friends has appeared to be no incident to a general state of war, it 
cannot be incident to a partial state, or a particular modification of war. 

Nor can it ever be granted, that a power to act on a case when it actually occurs, includes a 
power over all the means that may tend to prevent the occurence of the case. Such a latitude of 
construction would render unavailing, every practical definition of particular and limited powers. 
Under the idea of preventing war in general, as well as invasion in particular, not only an indis- 
criminate removal of all aliens might be enforced, but a thousand other things still more reroute 
from the operations and precautions appurtenant to war, might take place. A bigoted or tyran- 
nical nation might threaten us with war, .unless certain religious or political regulations wer© 
adopted by us ; yet it never could be inferred, if the regulations which would prevent war, were 
such as Congress had otherwise no power to make, that the power to make them would grow out 
of the purpose they were to answer. Congress have power to suppress insurrections, yet it 
would not be allowed to follow, that they might employ all the means tending to prevent them: 
of which a system of moral instruction for the ignorant, and of provident support for the poor, 
might be regarded as among the most efficacious. 

One argument for the power of the General Government to remove aliens, would hav* been 
passed in silence, if it had appeared under any authority inferior to that of a report; made during 
the last session of Congress, to the House of Representatives by a committee, and approved by 
the House. The doctrine on which this argument is founded, is of_so new and so extraordinary a 
character, and strikes so radically at the political system of America; that it is proper to state it 
in the very words of the report. 

"The act [concerning aliens] is said to be unconstitutional, because to remove aliens, is a di- 
rect breach of the Constitution, which provides, by the 9th section of the 1st article: that the 
migration or importation of such persons as any of the States shall think proper to admit, shall 
not be prohibited by the Congress, prior to the year 1808. 

Among the answers given to this objection to the constitutionality of the act, the following very 
remarkuble one is extracted : 

"Thirdly, that as the constitution his given to the States no power to remove aliens, during 
the period of the limitation under consideration, in the mean time, on the construction assumed, 
there would be no authority in the country, empowered to send away dangerous aliens, which 
cannot be admitted. 

The reasoning here used, would not in any view, be conclusive, beeause there are powers ex- 
ercised by most other governments, which, in the United States are withheld by the people, both 
from the General Government and from the State Governments. Of this sort are many of the 
powers prohibited by the declarations of right prefixed to the Constitutions, or by the clauses in 
the Constitutions, in the nature of such declarations. Nay, so far is the political system of the 
United States distinguishable from that of other countries, by the caution with which powers are 
delegated and defined, that in one very important case, even of commercial regulation and re- 
venue, the power is absolutely locked up against the hands of both Governments. A tax on ex- 
ports can be laid by no constitutional authority whatever. Under a system thus peculiarly 
guarded, there could surely be no absurdity in supposing that alien friends, who if guilty of trea- 
sonable machinations may be punished, or if suspected on probable grounds, may be secured by 
pledges or imprisonment, in like manner with permanent citizens, were never meant to be sub- 
jected to banishment by an arbitrary and unusual process, either under the one government, or 
the other. 

But, it is not the iuconclusivenesss of the general reasoning in this passage, which chiefly calls 
the attention to it. It is the principle assumed by it, that the powers held by the States, are 
given to them by the Constitution of the United States ; and the inference from this principle, that 
the powers supposed to be necessary which are not so given to the State Governments, must re- 
side in the Government of the United States. 

The respect which is felt for every portion of the constituted authorities, forbids some of the re- 
flections which this singular paragraph might excite; and they are the more readily suppressed, 
as it may be presumed, which justice perhaps, as well as candor, that inadvertence may have 
had its share in the error. It would be an unjustifiable delicacy, nevertheless, to pass by so por- 
tentous a claim, proceeding from so high an authority, without a monitory notice of the fatal ten- 
dencies with which.1t would be pregnant. 

Lastly, it is said, that a law on the same subject with the alien act, passed by this State origi- 
nally in 1785, and re-enacted in 1792, is a proof that a summary removal of suspected aliens, was 
not heretofore regarded by <ho Virginia Legislature as liable to the objections now urged against , 
such a measure. 5 



30 

%is charge against Virginia vanishes before the simple remauk, that the law of Virginia re* 
jfate^ to •' suspicion's persons, being the subject of any foreign power or state, vvho shall have 
marl' a declaration of wa'-, or actually commenced hostilities, or from whom the President shall 
Stppr hend hostile designs', whereas the act of Congress relates to aliens, being the subject? of 
foreign powers and states, who have neither declared -war nor commenced hostilities, nor from 
•toham hostile dangers are apprehended. 

II. It is nex* affirmed of the Alien act, that it unites legislative, judicial, and executive powers 
in the hands of the President. 

However difficult it may be to mark, in every case, with clearness and certainty, the line which 
divides Legislative power from the other departments of power; all will agree, that the powers 
referred to these departments may be so general and undefined, as to be of a Legislative, not of an 
Executive or Judicial nature; and may for that reason be unconstitutional. Details to a certain 
degree, are essential to the nature and character of a law ; and on criminal subjects, it is proper, 
that details should lyave as little as possible to the discretion of those who are to apply and exe- 
cute the law. If nothing more were required, in exercising a Legislative trust, than a general 
conveyance of authority, without laying down any precise rules, by which the authority conveyed;, 
should be carried into effect, it would follow, that the whole power of legislation might be trans- 
ferred by the Legislature from itself, and proclamations might become substitutes for law r. A 
delegation of power in this latitude, would not be denied to be a union of the different powers. 

To determine, then, whether the appropriate powers of the distinct departments are united by 
the act authorizing the Executive to remove aliens, it must be inquired whether it contains such 
details, definitions and rules, as appertain to the true character of a law ; especially, a law bj 
whi h perianal liberty is invaded, property deprived of its value to the owner, and life itself in- 
directly exposed t danger. 

The Alien act declares, " that it shall he lawful for the President to order all such aliens as he 
shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable ground 
to suspect, are concerned in any treasonable, 01 secret machinations against the government there- 
of, to depart," &e. 

Could a power be well given in terms less definite, less particular, and less precise ? To be 
dangerous to the public safety ; to e suspected of secret machination against the Government : 
these can never be mistaken for legal rules or certain definitions. They leave every thing to the 
President. His will is the law. 

But, it is ni-t a Legislative power only that is given to the president. He is to stand in the 
place of the Judiciary also. His suspicion is the only evidence which is to convict: his order, the 
only judgment which is to be executed. 

Thus, it is the President whose will is to designate the offensive conduct; it is his will that is 
to ascertain the individuals on whom it is charged ; and it is his will that is to cause the sentence 
to be executed It is rightly affirmed, thereto e, that the act unites Legislative and Judicial 
powers to those of the Executive. 

III. It is affirmed, that this union of power subverts the general principle of free government. 

It has become an axiom in the science of government, that a separation of the Legislative, Exec- 
utive, and Judicial departments, is necessary to the pteservation of public liberty Nowhere has 
this axiom been better understood in theory, or more carefully pursued in practice, than in the 
United States. 

IV. It is affirmed that such a union of powers subverts the particular organization and positive 
provisions of the Federal Constitution. » 

According to the particular organization of the Constitution, its Legislative powers are vested 
in the Congress, its Executive powers in the President, and its Judicial powers in a supreme and 
inferior tribunals. The union of any two of these powers, and still more of all three, in any one 
of these departments, as has been shown to be done by the Alien act, must consequently subvert 
the constit itional organization of them. 

That positive provisions, in the Constitution, securing to individuals the benefits of fair trial, are 
also violated by the union of powers in the Alien act, necessarily results from the two facts, that 
the act relates to alien friends, and that alien friends being under the municipal law only, are en- 
titled to its protection. 

The second object against which the resolution protests, is the Sedition act. 

Of this act it is affirmed, t. That it exercises in like manner a power not delegated by the 
Constitution. 2 That the power, on the contrary, is expressly and positively forbidden by one 
of the amendments to the Constitution. 3. That this is a power, which more than any other 
ougi it to produce universal alarm; because it is levelled against that right of freelv examining 
public characters and measures, and of free communication thereon, which has ever been justly- 
deemed the only effeetual guardian of every other right. 

1. That it exercises a power not delegated by the Constitution. 

Here, again, it will be proper to recollect, that the Federal Government being composed of 
powers specifically granted with a reservation of all others to the States or to the people, the posi- 
tive authority under which the Sedition act could be passed must be produced by those who assert 
its constitutionality. In what part of the Constitution, then, is this au'hority to be found ? 

Several attempts have beeo made to answer this question, which will be examined in their or- 
der. The committee will begin with one, which has filled them with equal astonishment and ap- 
prehension; and which, they cannot but persuade themselves, must have the same effect on all, 
"who will consider it with coolness and impartiality, and with a reverence for our Constitution, in 
the true character in which it issued from the sovereign authority of the people. The committee 
refer to the doctrine lately advanceo as a sanction to the Sedition act, " that the common or un- 
written law," a law of vast extent am) complexity , and embracing almost every possible subject of 
legislation, both civil and criminal, makes a part ot the law of these States, in their united and 
national capacity, 



31 

The noveltv, aud, m the judgment of the committee, the extravagance of this pnetensioa, would 
Taave consigned it to the silence, in which the\ have passe l bv other arguments, which an extra- 
©rfhnary zeal for the act has drawn into the discussion ; but the auspices under which this innova- 
tion presents itself, have constrained the committee to bestow on it an attention, which other con> 
sid-rations might have forbidden. 

In executing the task, it may be of use to look back to the colonial state of ihis country, prior to 
the Revolution ; to trace the effect of the Revolution which converted the colon.es into independ- 
ent States; to inquire into the import of the articlesof confederation, the first instrument by which 
the union of the States was regularly established; and, finally, to consult the Constitution of 1787, 
which is the oracle that must decide the important question. 

< In the state prior to the Revolution, it is certain that the common law, under different limita- 
tions, made a part of the colonial codes. But whether it be understood that the original colonists 
brought the law with them, or made it their law by adoption, it is equally certain, that it was the 
separate law of each colony within its respective limits, and was unknown to them, as a law per- 
vading and operating through the whole, as one society. 

It could not possibly be otherwise. The common law was not the same in any two of the colo* 
Hies; in some the modifications were materially and extensively different. There was no com- 
mon Legislature, by which a common will could be expressed in the form of a law ; nor any 
common magistracy, by which such a law could be carried into practice. The will of each col- 
ony, alone and separately, had its organs for these purposes. 

This stage of our political history furnishes no foothold for the patrons of this new doctrine. 

Did, then, the principle or operation of the great event which made the colonies independent 
States', imply or introduce the common law, as a law of the Union ? 

The fundamental principle of the Revolution was, that the colonies were co-ordinate members 
■with each other, and with Great Britain, of an empire, united by a common executive, sovereign, 
but not united by any common legislative sovereign. The legislative power was maintained to be 
as complete in each American parliament, as in the British parliament. And the royal preroga- 
tive was in force in each colony, by virtue of its acknowledging the King for its executive magis- 
trate, as it was in Great Britain, by virtue of a like acknowledgment there. A denial of these, 
principles by Great Britain, and the assertion of them by America, produced the Revolution. 

There was a time, indeed, when an exception to the legislative separation <f the several compo- 
nent and co-equal parts of the empire, obtained a degree of acquiescence. The British Parliament 
whs allowed to regulate the trade with foreign nations, and between the different parts of the em- 
pire This was, however, mere practice without right, and contrary to the true theory of the 
Constitution. The convenience of some regulations, in both cases, was apparent ; and, as there 
was no Legislature witii power over the whole, nor any constitutional pre-eminence among the 
Legislatures of the several parts, it was natural for the Legislature of that particular part which 
was the eldest and the largest, to assume this function, and fir the others to acquiesce in it. This 
tacit arrangement was the less criticised, as the regulations established by the British Parliament 
operated in favor of that part of the empire, which seemed to bear the principal share of the pub- 
lic burdens, and were regarded as an indemnification of its advances for the other parts. As long 
as this regulating power was confined to the two objects of convenience and equity, it was not 
complaine;: of, nor much inquired into. But, no sooner was it perverted to the selfish views of 
the party assuming it, than the injured parties began to feel and to reflect ; and the moment the 
claim to a direct and indefinite power was ingrafted on the precedent of the regulating power, the 
whole charm was dissolved, and every eye opened to the usurpation. The assertion by Great 
Britain oxa power to make laws for the other members of the empire in all cases whatsoever 
ended in the discovery, that she had a right to make laws for them in no cases whatsoever. 

Such being the ground of our Revolution, no support nor color can be drawn from it, for the 
doctrine that the common law is binding on these States as one society The doctrine, on the 
contrary, is evidently repugnant to the fundamental principle ot the Revolution. 

The articles of confederation are the next source of information on this subject. 

In the interval between the commencement of the Revolution and the final ratification of these 
articles, the nature and extent of the Union was determined by the circumstances of the crisis, 
uather than by am accurate delineation of the general authority. It will not be alleged, that the 
" common law " could have any legitimate birth as a law of the United States during that state of 
things. If it came as such into existence at all, the charter of confederation must have been its 
parent. 

Here, again, however its pretensions are absolutely destitute of foundation. This instrument 
does not contain a sentence or a syllable that can be tortured into a countenance of the idea, that 
the parties to it were, with respect to the objects of the common law, to form one community. 
No such law is named, or implied, or alluded to, as being in force, or as brought into force by that 
compact. No provision is made by which such a law could be carried into operation ; whilst, on 
the other hand, every such inference or pretext is absolutely precluded by article 2, which de- 
clares "that each Stale retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, ju- 
risdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, 
in Congress assembled." 

Thus far it appears, that not a vestige of this extraordinary doctrine can be found in the origin 
or progress of American institutions. The evidence against it has, on the contrary, grown str uiger 
at every step, till it has amounted to a formal and positive exclusion, by written articles of com- 
pact among the parties concerned. 

Is this exclusion revoked, and the common law introduced as national law, by the present Con- 
stitution of the United States ? This is the final question to b^ examined 

It is readily admirted, that particular parts of the common law may have a sanction from the 
Constitution, so far as they are necessarily comprehended in the technical phi-.ses which express 
the powers delegated to "the Government ; and so far, also, as such other parts may be adoptetl 



32 

f>y* Cfongtfess a§ necegsary* and proper for carrying into execution the powers expressly delegated 
But, the question does not relate to either of these portions of the common law. It relates to ther 
common law beyond these limitations. 

The only part of the Constitution which seems to have been relied on in this case, is the 2d sec- 
tion of Article HI. " The Judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising un- 
der this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and Treaties made or which shall be made 
under their authority." 

It has been asked, what cases, distinct from those arising under the laws and treaties of the 
United States, can arise under the Constitution, other than those arising under the common law j 
aud it is inferred, that the common law is accordingly adopted or recognized by the Constitution. 

Never, perhaps, was so broad a construction applied to a text so clearly unsusceptible of it. If 
any color for the inference could be found, it must be in the impossibility of finding any other cases 
in law and equity, within the provisions of the Constitution, to satisfy the expression ; and rather 
than resort to a construction affecting so essentially the whole character of the Government, it 
would perhaps be more rational to consider the expression as a mere pleonasm or inadvertence. 
But it is not necessary to decide on such a dilemma. The expression is fully satisfied, and Hs ac« 
curacy justified by two descriptions of cases, to which the judicial authority is extended, and neither 
of which implies that the common law is the law of the U. S. One of these descriptions compre- 
hends the cases growing out of the restrictions on the legislative power of the States. For exam- 
ple, it is provided that " no State shall emit bills of credit," or " make any thing but gold and silver 
coin a tender in payment of debts." Should this prohibition he violated, and a suit between citi- 
zens of the same State be the consequence, this would be a case arising under the Constitution be- 
fore the Judicial power of the United States. A second description comprehends suits between 
citizens and foreigners, of citizens of different States, to be decided according to the State or foreign 
laws; but submitted by the Constitution to the Judicial power of the United States; the Judicial 
power being, in several instances, extended beyond the legislative power of the United States. 

To this explanation of the text, the following observations maybe added : 

The expression, "cases in law and equity," is manifestly confined to cases of a civil nature, 
and would exclude cases of criminal jurisdiction. . Criminal cases in law and equity would be a 
language unknown to the law. 

The succeeding paragraph in the same section is in harmony with this construction. It is in 
these words: " In all cases affecting Ambassadors, or other public ministers and Consuls, and 
those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction; In alt 
the other cases [including cases of law and equity arsing under the Constitution] the Supreme 
Court shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact; with such exceptions, and under 
Such regulations, as Congress shall make." 

This paragraph, by expres6lv giving an appellate jurisdiction, in cases of law and equity aris- 
ing under the Constitution, to fact, as well as to law, clearly excludes criminal cases, where the 
trial by jury is secured ; because the fact in such cases, is not a subject of appeal. And, although 
the appeal is liable to such exceptions and regulations as Congress may adopt, yet it is not to be 
supposed that an exception of all criminal cases could be contemplated ; as well because a discre- 
tion in Congress to make or omit the exception would be improper, as because it would have 
been unnecessary. The exception could as easily have been made by the Constitution itself, as 
as referred to the Congress. 

Once more; the amendment last added to the Constitution, deserves attention as throwing light- 
on this subject. " The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to 
any suit in' law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States, by citizens 
of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign power." As it will not be pretended 
that any criminal proceeding could take place against a state, the terms law or equity, must be 
understood as appropriate to civil, in exclusion of criminal cases. 

From these considerations, it is evident thst this part of the Constitution, even if it could be 
applied at all to the purpose for which it has been cited, would not include any cases whatever of 
a criminal nature ; and consequently would not authorize the inference from it, that the judicial 
authority extends to offences against the common law, as offences arising under the Constitution. 

It is further to be considered, that even if this part of the Constitution could be strained into an 
application to every common law case, criminal as well as civil, it could have no effect in justify- 
ing the Sedition Act; which is an act of legislative and not of judicial power: and it is the judi- 
cal power only of which the extent is defined in this part of the Constitution. 

There are two passages in the Constitution, in which a description of the law of the United 
States is found. The first is contained in Art. III. Sec. 3, in the words following: " This Con- 
stitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under this 
authority." The second is contained in the second paragraph of Article VI, as follows: "This 
Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and 
all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the 
supreme law of the land." The first of these descriptions was meant as a guide to the Judges of 
the United States; the second as a guide to the Judges of the several States. Both of them con- 
sist of an enumeration, which was evidently meant to he precise and complete. If the common 
law had been understood to be a law of the United States, it is not possible to assign a satisfactory 
Reason why it was not expressed in the enumeration. 

In aid of these objections, the difficulties and confusion inseparable from a constructive intro» 
duction of the common law. would afford powerful reasons against it. 

Is it to be the common law with, or without the British Statutes ? 

If without the statutory amendments, the vices of the code would be insupportable. 

If with these amendments, what period is to be fixed for limiting the Britten authority over our 
laws ? 

Is it to be the date of the eldest or the youngest of the colonies : 



S3 

Or are the dates to be tlirffwn together, and a medium deduced ? 

Or is our independence to be taken for the date ? 

Is, again, regard to be had to the various changes in the common law made by the local codes 
of America ? 

Is regard to be had to such changes, subsequent, as well as prior, to the establishment of the 
Constitution ? 

Is regard to be had to future, as veil as past changes ? 

Is the law to be different in every State, as differently modified by its code; or are the modifi' 
cations of any particular State to be applied to all ? 

And on the latter supposition, which among the State codes form the standard f 

Questions of this sort might be multiplied with as much ease as there would be difficulty in 
answering them. * 

These consequences flowing from the proposed construction, furnish other objections equally 
conclusive: unless the text were peremptory in its meaning, and consistent with other parts of 
the instrument. 

These consequences may be in relation to the legislative authority of the United States ; to 
the executive authority ; to "the judicial authority ; and to the Governments of the several States. 

If it be understood that the common law is established by the Constitution, it follows that no part 
of the law can be altered by the Legislature ; such of the statutes already passed as may be re- 
pugnant thereto, would be nullified : particularly the "Sedition act" itself, which boasts of being 
a melioration of the common law ; and the whole code, with all its incongruities, barbarisms, and 
bloody maxims, would be inviolably saddled on the good people of the United States. 

Should this consequence be rejected, and the common law be held, like other laws, liable to 
revision and alteration, by the authority of Congress, it then follows that the authority of Con- 
gress is co-extensive with the objects of common law ; that is to say, with every objecc of legisla- 
tion ; for to every such object does some branch or other of the common law extend. The au- 
thority of Congress would, therefore, he no longer under the li • itations marked out in the Con- 
stitution. They would be authorized to legislate in all cases whatsoever. 

la the next place, as the President possesses the executive powers of the Constitution, and is 
to see that the laws be faithfully executed, his authority also must be co-extensive with every 
branch of the common law. The additions which this would make to his power, though not rea- 
dily to be estimated, claim the most serious attention. 

This is not all ; it will merit the most profound consideration, how far an indefinite admission 
of the common law, with a latitude in construing it, equal to the construction by which it is de- 
duced from the Constitution, might draw after it the various prerogatives, making part of the un- 
written law of England. The English Constitution itself is nothing more than a composition of 
unwritten, laws and maxims. 

In the third place, whether the common law be admitted as of legal or of constitutional 
obligation, it would confer on the judicial department a discretion little short of a legislative power. 

On the supposition of its having a constitutional obligation, this power in the judges would be 
permanent and irremediable by the legislature. On the other.supposition, the power would not 
expire until the legislature should have introduced a full system of statutory provisions. Let it be 
observed, too, that besides all the uncertainties above enumerated, and which present an immense 
field for judicial discretion, it would remain with the same department to decide whai parts of the 
common law would, and what would not, be properly applicable to the circumstances of the Unit- 
ed States. 

A discretion of this sort has always been lamented as incongruous and dangerous, even in the 
Colonial and State Courts; although so much narrowed by positive provisions is the local codes 
on all the principal subjects embraced by the common law. Under the United States, where so 
few laws exist on those subjects, and where so great a lapse of time must happen before the vast 
chasm could be supplied, it is manifest that the power of the judges over the law would, in fact, 
erect them into legislators, and that, for a long time, it would be impossible for the citizens to con- 
jecture either what wm^ or would be law. 

In the last place, the consequence of.admitting the common law as the law of the United States, 
on the authority of the individual States, is as obvious as it would be fatal. As this law relates to 
every subject of legislation, and would be paramount to the constitutions and laws of the States ; 
the admission of it would overwhelm the residuary sovereignty of the States, and by one construc- 
tive operation, new-model the whole political fabric of the country. 

From the review thus taken of the situation of the American colonies, prior to their independ- 
ence; of the effect of this event on their situation; of the nature and import of the articles of con- 
federation; of the true meaning of the passage in the existing constitution from which the common 
law has been deduced; of the difficulties and uncertainties incident to the doctrine; and of its vast 
consequences in extending the powers of the Federal Government, and in superseding the author- 
ities of the State Governments; the committee feel the utmost confidence in concluding, that the 
common law never was, nor by any fair construction, ever can be deemed a law for the American 
people as one community; and they indulge the strongest expectation that the same conclusion 
will be finally drawn by all candid and accurate inquiries into the subject. It is, indeed, distress- 
ing to reflect, that it ever should have been made a question, whether the constitution, on the 
whole face of which is seen so much labor to enumerate and define" the several objects of Federal 
power, could intend to introduce in the lump, in an indirect manner, and by a forced construction 
of a few phrases, the vast and multifarious jurisdiction involved in the common law; a law filling 
so many ample volumes; a law overspreading the entire field of legislation; and a law that would 
sap the foundation of the constitution as a system of limited and specified powers. A severer re-, 
proa'ch could not, in the opinion of the committee, be thrown on the constitution, on those who 
framed, or on those who established it, than such a supposition would throw on them. 

The argument then, drawn from the common law, on the ground of its being adopted or recog < 



34 

tu2e4 by the constitution, being inapplicable to the Sedition act, the committee will proceed to eat~ 
amine the other arguments which have been founded on the constitution. 

T;iev will waste but little time on the attempt to cover the act by th^ preamble tn the constitution 
it being contrary to every acknowledged rule of construction, to set up this part of an instrument 
hi opposition to the plain meaning, expressed in the bodv of the instrument. A. preamble usually 
contains the general motives or reason for the particular regulations or measures which follow 
it; and is always understood to be explained and limited by them. In the present instance, a 
contrary interpretation would have the inadmissible effect, of rendering nugatory or improper, ev- 
ery part of the constitution which succeeds the preamble. 

The paragraph in Art. 1, Sec. 8, which contains the power to lay and collect taxes, duties im- 
ports, md excises ; to pav the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare, 
hsvmg been already examined, will also require no particular attention in this place. It will have 
been seen that in its fair and consistent meaning, it cannot enlarge the enumerated powers vested 
in Congress. 

The part of the constitution which seems most to be recurred to, in defence of the "Sedition 
act," is the last clause of the above section, empowering Congress to make all laws which shall 
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers 
Vested by this constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or offi- 
cer thereof. " 

The plain import of this clause is, »hat Congress shall have all the incidental or instrumental 

Sowers, necessary and proper for carrying into execution all the express powers ; whether they 
t vested in the Government of the United States.more collectively, or in the several departments 
or officers thereof. 

It is not a grant of new powers to Congress, but merely a declaration for the removal of all un- 
certainty, that the means of carrying into execution, those otherwise granted, are included in the 
grant 

'Vhenever, therefore, a question arises concerning the constitutionality of a particular power, 
the ^rst question is, whether the power he expressed m the constitution. If it be, the question is 
decided, if it be not expressed, the next inquiry must be, whether it is propeiiy an incident to 
an express power, and necessary to its execution. If it be, it may be exercised by Congress. If it 
b;> nut, Congress cannot exercise it. 

Let the question be asked, then, whether the power over the press, exercised in the " Sedi- 
tion f»ct," be found among the powers expressly vested in the Congress ? This is not pre- 
t^nled. 

Is there any express power, for executing which, it is a necessary and proper power ? 
lie power which has been selected, at least remote, in answer to this question, is that "of sup- 
i ssing insurrections ;" which is said to imply a power to prevent insurrections, by punishing 
hatever may lead or tend to them. But it surely cannot, with the least plausibility, be said, that 
1 le regulation of the press, and a punishment of libels, are exercises of a power to suppress in* 
summer. -oris. The most that could be said, would be, that the punishment of libels, if it had the 
tendency vtsci ibed to it, might prevent the occasion of passing or executing laws necessary and pro« 
per for the suppression of insurrections. 

Has tiie Federal Government no power then, to prevent as well as to punish resistance to 
he laws ? 

They have the power which the constitution deemed most proper in their hands for the purpose. 
The Congress has power, before it happens, to pass laws for punishing it; and the executive and 
judiciun huvep werto enforce those laws when it does happen. 

It must be recollected by many, and could be shewn to the satisfaction of all that the construc- 
tion here put on the terms "necessary and proper," is pi-ecisely the construction which prevailed 
during the discussions and ratifications of the constitution. It may he added, and cannot too of- 
ten be repeated, that it is a construction absolutely necessary to maintain their consistency with 
the peculiar character of the Government, as possessed oi particular and definite powers only ; 
not of the general and indefinite powers vested in ordinary Governments. For if the power to 
suppress insurrections, includes the power to ptinish libels; or if the power to punish, includes a 
power to prevent, by all the means that may have that tendency, such is the relation and influence 
among the most remote subjects of legislations, that a power over a very few, would carry with 
it a power over all. And it must be wholly immaterial, whether unlimited powers be exercised 
under the name of unlimited powers, or be exercised under the name of unlimited means of car- 
rying into execution, limited powers. 

" This branch of the subject will be closed with a reflection which must have weight with all , but 
more especially with those who place peculiar reliance on the judicial exposition of the constitu- 
tion, as the bulwark provided against an undue extension of the legislative power. If it be under- 
stood, that the powers implied in the specified powers, have an immediate and appropriate rela- 
t.on to them, as means necessary and proper for carrying them into execution, questions, on the 
constitutionality of laws passed for this purpose, wil Ibe of a nature sufficiently precise and deter- 
minate for judicial cognizance and control. If, on the other hand, Congress are not limited in 
the choice of means by any such appropriate relation of them to the specified powers; but may 
employ all such means they may deem fitted to prevent as well as to punish crimes subjected to 
their authority; such as may have a tendency only to promote an object for which they are author- 
ized to provide; every one must perceive that questions relating to means of this sort, must be 
questions' tor mere policy and expediency ; on which legislative discretion alone can' decide, and 
from which the judicial interposition and control are completely excluded, 
p"' II. Ihe next point which the resolution requires to be proved is, that the power over the press 
exercised by the Sedition act, is positively forbidden by one of the amendments to the constitu- 
tion . 

The amendment stands in these words-»-"Congress sfoaH make no law respecting an establish? 



So 

ttient of religion, or prohibiting tbe free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, a>* of 
the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a 
red res'- oi grievances." 

In the attempts to vindicate the 'Sedition act,' it has been contended, 1. That the ' freedom of 
the press ' is to be determined by the meaning of these terms in the common law. 2. That ihe 
article supposes the power over the press to be in Congress, and prohibits them only from abriitg* 
hip- the freedom allowed to it by the ommon law. J. J 

Although it will be ^hewn, on examining the second of these positions, that the amendment is a 
denial to Congress of all power over the press, it may not be useless to make the following obser- 
vations on the first of them. 

It is deemed to be a sound opinion, that the Sedition act in its definition of some of the crimes 
created, is an abridgement of the freedom of publication, recognized by principles of the common 
law in England. 

The freedom of the press, under the common law, is in the defences of the Sedition act, made 
to consist in an exemption from all previous restraint on printed publications, by persons author- 
ized to inspect or prohibit them. It appears to the committee, that this idea of the freedom of 
the press, can never be admitted to be the American idea of it : since a law inflicting penalties on 
printed publications, would have a similar effect with a law authorizing a previous restraint on 
them. It would seem a mockery to say, that no laws should be passed, preventing publications 
from being made, but that laws might be passed, for punishing them in case they should bemade. 

The essential difference between the British Government, and the American constitutions will 
place this subject in the clearest light. 

In the British Government, the danger of encroachments on the lights of the people, is under- 
stood to be confined to the executive magistrate. The representatives of the people in the legis* 
lature, are not only exempt themselves, from distrust, but are considered as sufficient guardians 
of the rights of their constituents against the danger from the executive. Hence, it is a principle, 
that the parliament is unlimited in its power ; or, in their own language, is omnipotent. Hence, 
too, all the ramparts for protecting the rights of the people, such as their Magna Charta, their 
Bill of flights, &cc. are not reared against the parliament, but against the royal prerogative. They 
are merely legislative precaution, against executiv- usurpation. Under such a Government as 
this, an exemption of the press from previous restraint by licensers appointed by the king, is all 
the freedom that can be secured to it. 4 

In the United States, the case is altogether different. The people, not the Government, possess 
the absolute sovereignty. The legislature, no less than the executive, is under limitations oi 
power. Encroachments are regarded as possible from the one, as well as from the other. Hence, 
in the United States, the great and essential rights of the people are secured against legislative, 
as well as executive ambition. They are secured not by laws paramount to prerogative, but 
bv constitutions paramount to laws. This security of the freedom of the press requires, that it 
should be exempt, not only from previous restraint by the executive, as in Great Britain ; but 
from legislative restraint also; and this exemption, to be effectual, must be an exemption, not on- 
ly from the previous inspection of licences, but from the subsequent penalty of laws. 

The state of the press, therefore, under the common law, cannot in this point of view, be the 
standard of its freedom in the United States. 

But there is another view, under which it may be necssary to consider this subject. It may be 
alledged tha% although the security for the freedom of the press, be different in Great Britain 
and in this country ; being a legal security only in the former, and a constitutional security in the 
latter; and although there may be a further difference, in an extension of the freedom of the 
press here, beyond an exemption from previous restraint, to an exemption from subsequent pen- 
alties also; yet the actual legal freedom of the press, under the common law, must determine 
the degree of freedom, which is meant by the terms, and which is constitutionally secured against 
both previous and subsequent retraints. 

The committee are not unaware of the difficulty of all general questions, which may turn on the 
proper boundary between the liberty and licentiousnes of the press. They will leave it there* 
fore for consideration only, how far the difference between the n-iture of the British Government P 
and the nature of the American Governments, and the practice under the latter, may shew the 
degree of rigor in the former, to be inapplicable to, and not obligatory in the latter. 

The nature of governments elective, limited and responsible, in all their branches, may well 
be supposed to require a greater freedom of animadversion, than might be tolerated bv thegenius- 
of such a government as that of Great Britain. In the latter, it is a maxim, that the King, an he* 
reditary, not a responsible magistrate, can do no wrong ; and that the legislature, which in two 
thirds of its composition is also hereditary, not responsible, can do what it pleases. In the United 
Stan s, the executive magistrates are not held to be infallible, nor the legislatures to be omnipo- 
tent ; and both being elective, are both responsible. Is it not natural and necessary, under such 
different circumstances, that a different degree of freedom, in the use of the press, should be 
contemplated ? 

Is not such an inference favored by what is observable in Great Britain itself ? Notwithstand- 
ing the general doetrine of the common law, on the subject of the press, and the occasional pun- 
ishment of those, who use it with a freedom, offensive to the Government, it i9 well known, that 
with respect to the responsible measures of the Government, where the reasons operating here, 
become applicable there, the freedom exercised by the press, and protected by public opinion, tar 
exceeds the limits prescribed by the ordinary rules of law. The ministry, whe are responsible 
to impeachment, are at all times, animadverted on, by the press, with peculiar freedom ; and 
during the elections for the House of Commons, the other responsible part of the Government, 
the press is employe-: with as little reserve towards the candidates. 

The practice in America must be -ntitled to much more respect. In every State, probably, in 
Ihe Union, the press has exerted a freedom m ca n vass i ng the merits and mea\st*res of public men, 



36 

at eve ry desmiptiou, which has not been confined (o the strict limiiU of the common law. iSa 
this footing, the freedom of the press has stood ; on this foundation it yet stands. And it will not 
be a breach, either of truth or of candor, to sav, that no persons or presses are in the habit of 
more unrestrained animadversions on the proceeding and functionaries of the State Governments, 
th^n the persons and presses most zealous in vindicating the act of Congress for punishing similar 
animadversions on the Government of the United States. 

The last remark will not be understood, as claiming for the State Governments, an immunity 
r- ? grjeatei' than they have hei^totbre^njoved^^Some degree of abuse is inseparable from the proper 
use of every thing ; and in no instance is this more true, than in tbat of the press. It has accord- 
ingly been decided by the practice of the States, that it is better to leave a few of its noxious 
branches to their luxuriant growth, than by pruning them away, to injure the vigor of those yield- 
the proper fruits. And can the wisdom of this policy be doubted by any one who reflects, that 
to the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which 
have been gained by reason and humanity, over error and oppression; who reflect, that to the 
I same beueficient source, the United States owe much of the lights which conducted them to the 
5 ranks of a free and independent nation ; and which have improved their political system, into a 
shape so auspicious to their happiness. Had " Sedition Acts," forbidding every publication that 
— might bring the constituted agents into contempt or disrepute, or that might excite the hatred of 
" ihe people against the authors of unjust or pernicious measures, been uniformly enforced against 
• the press ; might not the United States have been languishing at this day, under the infirmities of 
; a sickly confederation ? Might they not, possibly, be miserable colonies, groaning under a for- 
I eign yoke ? 

To these observations one fact will be added, which demonstrates that the common law cannot 
be admitted as the universal expositor of American terms, which may be the same with those 
contained in that law. The freedom of conscience, and of religion, are found in the same in- 
struments which assert the freedom of the pressi It will never be admitted that the meaning of 
the former, in the common law of Kngland, is to limit their meaning in the United States. 

AVhatever weight may be allowed to these considerations, the Committee do not, however, by 
any means intend to rest the question on them. They contend that the article of the amendment, 
instead of supposing in Congress a power that might be exercised over the press, provided its 
freedom was not abridged, was meant as a positive denial to Congress, of any power whatever on 
the subject. 

To demonstrate that this was the true object of the article, it will be sufficient to recall the cir- 
cumstances which led to it, and to refer to the explanation accompanying the article , 

When the Constitution was under the discussions which preceded its ratification, it is well 
known, that gj'eat apprehensions were expressed hy many, lest the omission of some positive ex- 
ception from the fiowjrsdelegated, of certain rights, and of the freedom of the press particularly, 
might expose them ^<{angeroTbeing drawn by construction within some of the powers vested in 
Congress ; more especially of the power to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying their 
other powers into execution. In reply to this objection, it was invariably urged to be a fundamen- 
tal and characteristic principle of the Constitution, that all powers not given by it were reserved ; 
that no powers were given beyond those enumerated in the Constitution, and such as were fairly 
incident to them ; that the power over the rights in question, and particularly over the press, 
was neither among the enumerated powers, nor incident to any of them ; and consequently that 
an exercise of any such power, would be manifest usurpation. It is painful to remark how 
much the arguments now employed in behalf of the Sedition Act, are at variance with the 
reasoning which then justified the Constitution, and invited its ratification. 

From this posture of the subject, resulted the interesting question in so many of the Con- 
ventions, whether the doubts and dangers ascribed to the Constitution, should be removed by 
any amendments previous to the ratification, or be postponed, in confidence that as far as they might 
be proper, they would be introduced in the form provided by the Constitution. The latter course 
was adopted; and in most of the States, ratifications were followed by the propositions and 
instructions for rendering the Constitution more explicit, and more safe to the rights not meant 
to be delegated by it. Among those rights the freedom of the press, in most instances, is 
particularly and emphatically mentioned. The firm and very pointed manner in which it is 
asserted in the proceedings of the Convention of this State will be hereafter seen. 

In pursuance of the wishes thus expressed, the first Congress that assembled under the Con- 
stitution, proposed certain amendments, which have since, by the necessary ratifications, been 
made a part of it ; among which amendments is the article containing, among other prohibi- 
tions on the Congress, an express declaration that they should make no law abridging the free- 
dom of the press. 

Without tracing farther the evidence on this subject, it would seem scarcely possible to 
doubt, that na power whatever over the press, wa9 supposed to be delegated by the Consti- 
-tutJonr, as it Originally stood; and that the amendment was intended as a positive and abso- 
lute "reservation of it. 

But the evidence is still stronger. The proposition of amendments made by Congress, is 
introduced in the following terms. 

'* The Conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Con- 
stitution expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstructions or abuse of its powers, that 
further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added ; and as extending the ground of 
public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institutions. w 

Here is the most satisfactory and authentic proof, that the several amendments proposed, 
were to be considered as either declaratory or restrictive ; and whether the one or the other, 
as corresponding, with the desire expressed by a number of the States, and as extending the 
ground of public confidence in the Government. 



m 

^fide? any other construction of the amendment relating to the press, than that it declared 
Uie press to be wholly exempt from the power of Congress, the amendment could neither be 
said to correspond with the desire expressed by a number of the States, nor be.calculated to 
extend the ground of public confidence in the Government. 

Nay, more; the construction employed to justify the "Sedition Actj" would exhibit a phenom- 
enon, without a parrallel in the political world. It would exhibit a number of respectable States, 
as denying first, that any power over the press was delegated by the constitution, as proposing 
next, that an amendment to it should explicitly declare that no such power was delegated; andfi- ; 
ally as concurring in an amendment actually recognizing or delegating such a power. 

Is then the Federal Government, it will be asked, destitute of every authority for restraining the 
licentiousness of the' press, and for shielding itself against the libellous attacks which may be 
made on those who administer it ? 

The constitution alone can answer this question. If no such power be expressly delegated, and 
if it be not both necessary and proper to carry into execution an express power ; above all, if it 
be expressly forbidden, by a declaratory amendment to the Constitution, the answer must be that 
the Federal Government is destitute of all such authority. 

And might it not be asked in turn, whether it is not more probable, under all the circumstances! 
which have been reviewed, that the authority should be withheld by the Constitution, than that 
IX should be left to a vague and violent construction ; whilst so much pains Avere bestowed in enu- 
merating other powers, and so many less important powers are included in the enumeration ? 

Might it not be likewise asked, whether the anxious circumspection which dictated so many 
peculiar limitations on the general authority, would be unlikely to exempt the press altogether ' 
from that authority ? The peculiar magnitude of some of the powers necessarily committed tof f ^ 
the Federal Government; the peculiar duration required for the functions of some of its depart- 
ments ; the peculiar distance of the seat 'of its proceedings from the great body of its constituents; 
and the peculiar difficulty of circulating an adequate knowledge of them through any other chan- 1 
nel ; will not these considerations, some or other of which produced other exceptions from the 
powers of ordinary Governments, altogether, account for the policy of binding the hand of the 
Federal Government, from touching the channel which alone can give efficacy to its responsibili- 
ty to its constituents ; and of leaving those who administer it, to a remedy for their injured repu- 
tations, under the same laws, and iu the same tribunals, which protect their lives, their liberties^ 
and their properties. 

But the question does not turn either on the wisdom of the Constitution, or on the policy which |* X. 
gave rise to its particular organization. It turns on the actual meaning of the instrument; by r/ \, 
which it has appeared, th&t a power over the press is clearly excluded, from the number of pow- *• 
ers delegated to the Federal Government. 

3. And, in the opinion of the committee, well may it be said, as the resolution concludes 
with saying, that the unconstitutional power exercised over the press by the " Sedition Aci,'* 
ought, "more than any other, to produce universal alarm; because it is levelled against that 
right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the 
people thereon, which has ever been justlv deemed the only effectual guardian of every other 

Without scrutinizing minutely into all the provisions of the " Sedition Act," it will be suffi« 
cient to cite so much of section 2, as follows ; — "And be it further enacted, that if any person shall 
write,- print, utter, or publish, or shall cause or procure to be written, printed, uttered, or pub- 
lished, or shall knowingly and willingly assist or aid in writing, printing, uttering, or publishing 
anv false, scandalous, and malicious writing or writings against the Government of the United 
States, or either House of the Congress of the United States, -with an intent to defame the said 
Government, or either' House of the said Congress, or the President, or to bring them, or either of 
them into contempt or disrepute ; or to excite against them, or either or any of them, the hatred of 
ilie good people of the United States, &c. Then such persons being thereof convicted before any 
court of the United States, having jurisdiction thereof, shell be punished by a fine not exceeding 
(rtvo thousand dollars, and by imprisonment not exceeding two years.'''' 

On this part of the act, the following observations present themselves: 

1. The Constitution supposes that the President, the Congress, and each of its Houses, may not 
discharge their trusts, either from defect of judgment or other causes. Hence they are all made 
responsible to their constituents, at the returning periods of elections ; and the President, who is 
singly entrusted with very great powers, is, as a further guard, subjected to an intermediate im- 
peachment. * 

2. Should it happen, as the constitution supposes it may happen, that either of these branches of 
the Government may not have duly discharged its trust; it is natural and proper, that according 
to the cause and degree of their faults, they should be brought into contempt or disrepute, and 
incur the hatred of the people. 

3. Whether it has, in any case happened that the proceedings of either, or all of those branches 
evinces such a violation of duty as to justify a contempt, a disrepute, or hatred among the people, 
can only be determined by a free examination thereof, and a free communication among the peo- 
ple thereon. 

4. Whenever it may have actually happened, that proceedings of this sort are chargeable on all 
or either of the branches of the Government, it is the duty as well as the right of intelligent and 
faithful citizens to discuss and promulge them freely, as well to control them by the censorship of 
the public opinion, as to promote a remedy according to the rules of the Constitution And it: 

cannot be avoided, that those who are to apply the remedy must feel, in some degree, a contempt 
©r hatred against the transgressing party. 

5. As the act was passed on July 14, 1798, aud is to be in force until March 3, 1801, it was, 
of course, that during its continuance, two elections of the entire House of Representatives, an 
ei ectiou of a part of the Senate, and an election of a President ivere te mke place, 

6 



6. That consequently, (luring all these elections intended by the constitution, to preserve the 
purity, 01 to purgt *lio -4"t»nlts of the administration, the grSst remedial rights of-tho people were 

tc e exereised j and the responsibility of their public agents to be sjcreeried, tin mr the penalties 
©i this act 

M'*y it no be asked of every intelligent friend to the liberties of his country, whether the 
power exercised in such an act as this, out not to produce great arc! universal alarm? Whether 
' execution of such ao act, in time past, would not have repressed that information and com- 
bb ideation among the people which is indispensable to the just exercise of their electoral rights? 
.An! whether such an act, if made perpetual, and enforced 'jrith rigour, would not, in time? to 
o^ > . either destrdv our free system of government, or prepare a convulsion that might prove 
eq dlv fatal to it? 

5n answer to such questions it has been pleaded that the writings and publications forbidden by 
the *ct, are those only which are fdse and malicious, and intended to defame; and merit is claimed 
to the privilege allowed to authors fn justify', by proving the truth of their publications, n\\(\ for 
the limitations to whicli the sentenee of* fine and imprisonment is subjected. 

To those who concurred in the act, under the extraordinary belief that the option lay between 
the passing" of sach an act, and leaving in force the common law of libels, which punishes truth 
eq .'ly with falsehood; arid* submits fine and imprisonment to the indefinite discretion of the 
c i oi, ibe merit of good intentions ought surely not to be refused. A like merit mav perhaps be 
du • for the discontinuance of the corporal punishment^ which the common law also leaves to the 
dis -eetiou of the court. fins merit of mteritioh, lv»v ever, would have been greater, if the several 
m fixations had n<H been limited to so short a period; and the apparent inconsistency wool! lurve 
be; :i avoided, between justifying the act at one time, by contrasting it with the rigors of the eom in 
la a therwise m force; and at another time, by appealing to the nature of the crisis, as requiring 
th. temporary rigor exerted by the act. 

But, whatever may have been the meritorious intentions of all or any who contributed to the 
Sedition act, a very few r flections svill prove, that its baleful tendency is little diminished by the 
privilege ot giving in evidence the truth of the matter contained in political writings. 

In the first place, where simple and naked facts alone are in question, there is sufficient difficul- 
ty in some cases, and sufficient t ouble and vexation in all, of meeting a prosecution from the Gov- 
ernment, with the full and form 1 proof necessary in a court of law. 

But m the next place, it must be obvious to the plainest minds, that opinions and inferences, 
an.' conjectural observations, are not only in many cases inseparable from the facts, but may 
be m; -re the objects ot the prosecution than the facts themselves; or may even be altogether 
abstracted from particular tacts; and that opinion and inferences, and conjectural observations, can- 
not be subjects of that kind of proof which appertains to facts, before a court of law. 

Again: It is no less, obvious that the intent to' defame or bring into cont- mpt or disrepute, or 
hatred, which is made a condition of the offence created by the act, cannot prevent its pernicious 
influence ou the freedom of the press. For, omitting the inquiry, how far the malice of the in- 
tent is an inference of the la\v from the mere publication; it is manifestly impossible to punish the 
itio nt to bring those who administer the government into disrepute Or contempt; without striking at 
the right of freely discussing public characters and measure; because those who engage in such dis- 
cu r>ns, must expect and intend to excite these unfavorable sentiments, so far as they may he 
thought to he deserved. To prohibit, the intent to excite those unfavorable sentiments agains* 
tii se who administer th- government, is equivalent to a prohibition of the actual excitement of 
thetn; and to prohibit the actual excitement of them, is equivalent to a prohibition of discussions 
having that tendendy and effect; which, again, is equivalent to a protection of those who adminis- 
ter i he g vernment, if they should at any time deserve the contempt or haired of th people, 
against being exposed to it, by free animadversions on their characters and conduct Nor can 
there be a doubt} if those in public trust be shielded by penal laws from such strictures of the 
press, as may expose them to contempt or disrepute, or hatred, where they may deserve k, 
that in exact proportion as they may deserve to be exposed, will be the certainty ;$nd criminality 
of the inte t to expose them and trie vigilance ^t' prosecuting and punishing it; nor a doubt that a 
government thus intrenched in penal statutes^ against the just and natural effects of a culpable ral- 
-, .inii.isii'Htion, will easily evade the responsibility which is essential to a faithful discharge of its duty. 

Let it be recollected lastly, that the right of electing die members ot the government constitutes 
Xftore particularly the essence of a free and resp. nsible government. The value and efficacy of 
this > ight, depends on the knowledge of the c reparative merits and demerits of the candidates 
for public trust; and on the equa' freedom, consequently of examining and discussing these merits 
and' demerits of the candidates respectively, li has been seen that a number of important elec- 
tions w,l! lake plaee while the act is in force; although it Should not be continued beyond the 
term to which it is limited. Should there happen then, as is extremely probable in relation to 
some or other of the branches of the government, to be competitions between those who are, $nd 
those who ar • not members of the government, what will hi- the sanations of the competitors?- 1 — 
Not equal; because the characters of the former will be covered by the "sedition act" from aui- 
madversioBS exposing them to disrepute among the people, whilst the latter may be exposed to 
the cmtf mpt ami hatred of the people, without a violation of the act. What will be the si 
of the people? Notifree; because they will fee compelled to make their election between < 
titers, wimse pretentions they are not permitted by the act equally to examine, to discuss, 
ascertain. And from both these situations will not those in power derive an undue advantage for 
Goutimiing themselves in it; which by impairing tile right of election, endangers the blessings of 
the government founded on it? 

l<is wij:h justice, th refore, that the generah assembly have affirmed in th> resolution, as well 
that the right of freely examining public cKWrai < ind measures, and of communication thereon, 
is the >m\ iTeetu d guardian of every other right; as mat this particular right is levelled at, by the 
f^vyer exercised m the "Sedition act." 



r 



39 

<irhe resolution next in "order is as follows; 

timing by its convention, winch ratified the ftderaiamziiluhon, e:sf>ressly declared* 
i.h.:. none? other essential rights, " Mc j liberty of conscience awl of tfit e'led 9 

etbri iged, restrained or mod fed by any authority oj the United States," and from its • 
acirfy la guard these rights from every possible attack of'sapfustry and ambition havi>. •, h 
states, recommended an amendment for that purpose, which amendment -was in •iue time i t* 
i to the constitutions it would •nark a reproachful inconsistency, and criminal- degehercy, >f 
an indifference were not sJurton, to the most palpable violation of one of the rights thus declared 
and secured; and to the establishment of a precedent, which may befattd to the other. 

To place this resolution in its just light, it will be necessan to recur to the act of ratification by 
Virginia, which stats, is 1n the ensuing form: 

"We, the delegate of he people of Virginia, duly elected in pursuance of a recommen- 
dation fr--m diue-getieral asse mhlv. and now met iu convention, having fully and freely investigated 
Hseussed the proe ■ediugs of the federal convention, and being prepared as well as the moat 
mature ieliberation hath enabled us, to decide therton; DO, in. the name and in behalf of the peo- 
ple if Virginia, declare and make known, th t the powers granted under the constitution, being 
derived from the pedpje of the United States, may he resumed by them, wheresoever fhe same 
be perverted to their injury or oppression; a. id that every power- not granted thereby, re- 
mains with them, and at their . w ill. That therefore, no right of any denomination can be. ex- 
celled, abridged, restrained or modified by the congress, by the senate or house of representatives 
acting in any capacity, h\ the president, or any department or officer of the United States, except 
in (hose instances in which power is given by the constitution for those purposes; and hat among 
.Other essential rights, the liberty of conscience, and of the press, cannot be cancelled, abridged, 
restrained or modified by anyauthoritj of the United States " 

Here is an express and solemn declaration by the convention of the state, that they ratified the 
constitution in the sense that no right of any denomination can be cancelled, abridged, restrained 
or modified by the government of the United States, or any part of it, except in fho ■<- instances in 
whi. h nDwer is given by the constitution; and in the sense particularly, " that among other essential 
rights, the liberty of conscience and freedom of the press cannot be caftcefled, abridged, restrained 
or modified by any authority of the United States." 

Words could not well express, in a fuller or more forcible manner, the understanding of the 
convention, that the liberty of conscience and the freedom of the press, were equally and completely 
exempted from all authority whatever of the United States. 

Under an anxiety to guard more effectually ihese rights against every possible danger, the con- 
vention, after. .ratifying the constitution, proceeded to prefix to certain amendments proposed by 
them, a declaration of rights, in which are two articles providing, the one for the liberty of con- 
science, the othe- for the freedom of speech, and 4>f the press. 

Similar recommendations having proceeded from a number of other states; and congress, as 
has .been seen, having in consequence thereof, and with a view to extend the ground of public 
confidence, proposed among other declaratory and restrictive clauses, a clause expressly securing 
the liberty of conscience and of the press; and Virginia having concurred in the ratifications which 
made them a part of the constitution, it will remain with a candid public to decide, whether it 
would pot mark, an inconsistency and degeneracy, if an indifference were not shown to a palpable 
violation of one of those rights, the freedom of the press; and to a precedent therein, which may 
hefcitaJ to the other; the free exercise of religion. 

That the precedent established by the violation of the former of these rights, may, as is affirmed 
by the resolution, be fatal to the latter, appears to be demonstrable, by a comparison of the 
grounds on which they respectively rest; and from the acope of reasoning, by which the power of 
the former has been vindicated. 

First, Both of these rights, the liberty of conscience and of the press, rest equally on the 
original ground of not being delegated by the constitution, and consequently withheld from the 
government. Any construction, therefore, that would attack this original security for the one, 
must have the like effect on the other. 

Secondly*, They are both equally secured by the supplement to the constitution; being b<th in- 
eluded in the same amendment, made at the same time, and by the same authority. Any con- 
struction or argument then, winch would turn the amendment into a grant or acknowledgement 
of power with respect to the press, might he equally applied to the freedom of religion. 

Thirdly, Jf it be admitted that the. extent of the freedom of the press, secured by the amend- 
ment, is to be measured by the common law on this subject; the same authority may be resorted 
to, for the standard which is to fix the extent of the "free exercise of religion " It cannot be 
necessary to say what this standard would be; whether the common law be taken solely as the 
unwritten, or as varied by the written law of England. 

Fourthly, If the words and phrases in the amendment are to be considered as chosen with a 
studied discrimination, which yields an argument for a power over the press, under the limitation 
that its freedom be not abridged; the same argument results from the same consideration, for a 
power over the exercise of religion, under the limitation that its freedom be not prohibited. 

For, if congress may regulate the freedom of the press provided they do not abridge it, be- 
cause it is said only, " the'v shall not abridge it," and is not said, "they shall make no law re- 
specting it:" the analogy of reasoning is conclusive, that congress ma\ regulate and even abridge 
the live exercise of religion, provided they do not prohibit .it; because it is said only "they shaft 
not prohibit it;" and is not said, " they shall' make no law respect tig, or no law abridging it." 

The general assembly were governed by the clearest reason, then, in considering the " sedit.oa 

net," which legislates on the freedom of the press, as establishing a precedent that may be fat. i <.« 

the liberty of conscience: and it will be the duty ol all, in proportion as they value the seemitv of 

the tatter, to take the alarm at every encroachment on the former. 

The two concluding resolutions only remain to be examined. They arc in the words following— 



40 

(i That the good people of tins commonwealth, having ever felt, and continuing to feel, the most' 
sincere affection for their brethren of the other states, the truest anxiety for establishing and per- 
petuating the union of all; and the most scrupulous fidelity to that constitution, which is the pledge 
of mutual friendship, and the instrument of mutual happiness, the general assembly doth solemnly 
appeal to the like dispositions in the other states in confidence that they will concur with this common- 
wealth in declaring, as it does hereby declare, that the acts aforesaid are unconstitutional; and that 
the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each, for co-operating with this state, in 
maintaining unimpaired, the authorities, rights, and liberties reserved to the states respectively, 
or to the people. 

"That the governor be desired to transmit a copv of the foregoing resolutions to the executive 
authority of each of the other states, with a request that the same may be communicated to the 
legislature thereof; and that a copy be furnished to each of the senators and representatives, re- 
specting this state in the congress of the United States." 

The fairness and regularity of the course of proceeding, here pursned, have not protected it 
against objections even from sources too respectable to be disregarded. 

It has been said that it belongs to the judiciary of the United States, and not the state legisla- 
tures, to declare the meaning of the federal constitution. 

But a declaration, that proceedings of the federal government arc not warranted by the consti- 
tution^ is a novelty neither among the citizens, nor among the legislatures of the states; nor are 
the citizens or the legislature of Virginia, singular in the example of it. 

Nor can the declarations of either, whether affirming or denying the constitutionality of mea- 
sures of the federal government; or whether made before or aftei- judicial decisions thereon, be 
deemed in any point of view, an assumption of the office of the judge. The declarations in such 
cases, are expressions of opinion, unaccompanied with any other effect than what they may pro- 
duce on opinion, by exciting reflection. The expositions of the judiciary, on the other hand, are 
carried iuto immediate effect by force. The former may lead to a change in the legislative ex- 
pression of the general will; possibly to a change in the opinion of the judiciary; the latter en- 
forces the general will, whilst that will and that opinion continue unchanged. 

And if there be no impropriety in declaring the unconstitutionality of proceedings in the federal 
government, where can there be the impropriety of communicating the declaration to other states,, 
and inviting their concurrence in a like declaration? What is allowable for one, must be allowable 
for all; and a free communication among the states, where the constitution imposes no restraint, is 
as allowable among the state governments, a3 among other public bodies or private citizens. — 
This consideration derives a weight, that cannot be denied to it, from the relation of the state 
legislatures to the federal legislature as the immediate* constituents of one of its branches. 

The Legislatures of the States have a right also to originate amendments to the Constitution^ 
by a concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number, in applications to Congress for the pur- 
pose. When new States are to be formed by a junction of two or more States or parts of States, 
the Legislatures of the States concerned, are, as well as Congress, to concur in the measure. 
The States have a right also to enter into agreements or compacts, with the consent of Con- 
gress. In all such cases a communication among them results from the objeet which is common 
to them. 

It is lastly to be seen, whether the confidence expressed by the resolution, that the necessartf 
and proper measures would be taken by the other States for co-operating with Virginia in 
maintaining the rights reserved to the States, or to the people, be in any degree liable to the 
objections which have been raised against it. 

If it be liable to objections, it must be because either the object or the means are objectionable-. 

The object being to maintain what the Constitution has ordained is in itself a laudable object. 

The means are expressed in the terms "the necessary and proper measures." A proper ob- 
ject was to be pursued by means both necessary and proper. 

To find an objection, then, it must be shown that some meaning was annexed to these general 
terms, which was not proper; and, for this purpose, either, that the means used by the Gene- 
ral Assembly were an example of improper means, or, that there were no proper means to 
which the terms could refer. 

^ In the example given by the State, of declaring the Adien and Sedition acts to be unconstitu- 
tional, and of communicating the declaration to other States, no trace of improper means has ap- 
peared. And if the other States, had concurred in making a like declaration, supported too, by 
the numerous applications flowing immediately from the people, it can scarcely be doubted, that 
these simple means would have been as sufficient, as they are unexceptionable 

It is no less certain that other means might have been employed, which are strictly within the 
limits of the Constitution. The Legislatures of the States might have made a direct representa- 
tionto Congress, with a view to obtain a rescinding of the two offensive acts ; or, they might have 
represented to their respective Senators in Congress,their wish,that two-thirds thereof would pro- 
pose an explanatory amendment to the Constitution ; or two-thirds of themselves, if such had 
been their option, might, by an application to Congress, have obtained a Convention for the same 
Object. 

These several means, though not equally eligible in themselves, nor probably to the States, 
•were all constitutionally open for consideration. And if the General Assembly, after declaring 
the two acts to be unconstitutional, the first and most obvious proceeding on the subject, did not 
undertake to point out to the other States a choice among the farther measures that might he- 
come necessary and proper, the reserve will not be misconstrued by liberal minds into any culpa- 
ble imputation. 

These observations appear to form a satisfactory reply to every objection which is not founded 
on a misconception of the terms employed in the resolutions. There is one other, however, 
"Which may be of too much importance not to be added. It cannot be forgotten, that among the 
■arguments JNMr«?S5ed to those who appretfertfted danger to Kberty from the establishment of th-c 






41 

Ghmeral (Soverfement over so great a country, the appeal was emphatically made to the intermfcj 
diate existence of the State Governments, between the people and that Government, to the vigil- 
ance with which they would descry the first symptoms of usurpation, and to the promptitude with 
which they would sound the alarm to the public. This argument was probably not without its 
effect; and if it was a proper one then, to recommend the establishment of the Constitution, it 
roust be a proper one now, to assist in its interpretation. 

The only part of the two concluding resolutions that remains to be noticed, is the repetition irt 
the first of that warm affection to the Union and its members, and of that scrupulous fidelity to 
the Constitution, wh'ch have been invariably felt by the people of this State. As the proceed- 
ings were introduced with these sentiments, they could not be more properly closed than in the 
same manner. Should there be any so lar misled as to call in question the sincerity of these pro- 
fessions, whatever regret maybe excited by the error, the General Assembly cannot descend in- 
to a discussion of it. Those who have listened to the suggestion, can only be left to their own re- 
collection of the part which this S'ate has borne in the establishment of our national independence, 
in the establishment of our national Constitution, and in maintaining under it the authority and 
laws »f the Union, without a single exception of internal resistance or commotion. By recurring 
to the facts, they will be able to convince themselves, that the representatives of the" people i» 
Yirginia,must be above the necessity Of opposing any other shield to attaekson their national patri- 
otism, than their own conscientiousness, and the justice of an enlightened public; who will perceive 
in the resolutions themselves, the strongest evidence of attachment both to the Constitution and 
the Union, s»nce it is only by maintaining the different Governmeuts and the departments within 
their respective limits, that the blessings of either can be perpetuated. 

The extensive view of the subject, thus taken by the Committee, has led them to report to the 
House, as the result of the whole, the following resolution : 

Resolved, That the General Assembly, having carefully and respectfully attended to the pro- 
ceedings of a number of the States, in answer to the resolutions of December 21, 1798, and hav- 
ing accurately and fully re-examined and re- considered the latter , find it to be their indispensable 
duty to adhere to the samk as founded, in truth, as co>son ant wit a the constitution, und 
as conducive to its PRESERVATION ; and more especially to be their duty to renew, as they do 
hereby renew their protest against "the Alien and Sedition acts," as palpable ajjd alarming 
INFRACTIONS OF THE "CONSTITUTION. 



MR CALHOUN'S ADDRESS. 

From the Pendleton Messenger. 

The question of the relation which the States and General Government bear 
to each other, is not one of recent origin. From the Commencement of our 
system, it has divided public sentiment. Even in the Convention, while the 
Constitution was struggling into existence, there were two parties, as to what 
this relation should be, whose different sentiments constituted no small impe- 
diment in forming that instrument. After the General Government went into 
operation, experience soon proved that the question had not terminated with 
the labours of the Convention. The great struggle lhat preceded the political 
revolution of 1801, which brought Mr Jefferson into power, turned essentially 
on it; and the doctrines and arguments on both sides were embodied and ably- 
sustained ; on the one, in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions and the re- 
port to the Virginia Legislature: and on the other, in the replies of the Legis- 
lature of Massachusetts and some of the other States. These resolutions and 
this report, with the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania about the 
same time, (particularly in the case of Cobbett, delivered by Chief Justice 
M'Kean, and concurred in by the whole bench.) contain what I believe to be 
the true doctrine on this important subject. I refer to them in order to avoid the 
necessity of presenting my views, with the reasons in support of them in detail. 

As my object is simply to state my opinions, I might pause with this refer- 
ence to documents that so fully and ably state all the points immediately con- 
nected with this deeply important subject; but as there arc many who may 
not have the opportunity or leisure to refer to them, and, as it is possible, how- 
ever clear they may be, that different persons may place different interpreta- 
tions on their meaning, 1 will, in order that my sentiments may be fully known, 
and to avoid a!l ambiguity, proceed to state,> summarily, the doctrines which I 
conceive they embrace'. 



T*he great ami leading principle is. that the General Government emanafeS 
from the people of the several States, forming distinct political communities, 
a*id acting in their separate and sovereign capacity, and not from all of the 
pt».>ple forming one aggregate political community • that the Constitution of the 
Uui-ed States is in fact a compact, to which each State is a party, in the char- 
acter already described ; and that the several States, or parties, have a right to 
judge of its infractions, and in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous ex- 
ercise of power not delegated, they have the rights in rhe last resort, to use the 
language of the Virginia resolutions, >k to interpose for wresting? the progress 
of f he evil* and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authorities, 
rights and liberties appertaining to them." This right of interposition thus 
solemnly asserted by the State of Virginia, be it called what it may — State 
•right, veto, nullification, or by any other name — I conceive to be the funda- 
mental principle of our system, resting on fiacrs, historically as certain as our 
revolution itself, and deductions as simple and demonstrative as that of any 
political or moral tnxth whatever; and I firmly believe that on its recognition 
depends the stability and safety of our political institutions. 

I am not ignorant that those opposed to the doctrine have always, now and 
formerly, regarded it in a very different light, as anarchical and revolutionary. 
Could I belie- e such in fact to be its tendency, to me it would be no recom- 
mendation. I yield to none, I trust, in a deep and sincere attachment to our 
political institutions, and the union of these States I never breathed an op- 
posite sentiment; but, on the contrary. I have ever considered them the great 
instruments of preserving our liberty, and promoting the happiness of ourselves 
and our posterity; and next to these, I have ever held them most dear. Nearly 
half mv life has passed in the service of the Union, and whatever public repu- 
tation I have acquired, is indtssolubly identified with it. To be too national 
has, indeed, been considered by many, even of my friends, to be tfry greatest 
po itical fault * With these strong feelings of attachment, I have examined, 
with the utmost care, the bearing of the doctrine in question ; arid so far from 
anarchical, or revolutionary, I solemnly believe it to be the only solid founda- 
tion of our system, and of the Unioir itself, and that the opposite doctrine, 
which denies to the Spates the right of protecting their reserved powers. a.d 
which would vest in the. General Government, (it matters not through what 
department.) the right of determining exclusively and finally the powers dele- 
gated to it, is incompatible with the sovereignty of the States, and of the ( 1 on- 
stitution itself, considered as the basis of a Federal Union. As strong as tnis 
language is, it is not stronger than that used by the illustrious Jefferson, who 
said, to give to the General Government the final and exclusive right to judge 
of its powers, is to make ¥i iis discretion and not the Constitution the measure 
of its powers ,•'' and that 4 * in all cases of compact between -parties having no 
commoJi judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself as well of the 
operation, as of the mode and measure of redress." Language cannot be more 
explicit; nor can higher authority be adduced. 

That different 'opinions are entertained on this subject, I consider but as 
an additional evidence of the great diversity of the human intellect. Had 
mfi able, experienced, and patriotic individuals, for whom I have the highest 
respect, taken different views, I would have thought the right too clear toad- 
mit of doubt; but I am tight by this, as well as by many similar instances, to 
treat with deference opinions differing from my own. The error may possibly 
be with me; but, if so, lean only say, that after the most mature and con- 
scientious examination, I have not been able to detect it. But with all pro- 
per deference, I must think that theirs is the error, who deny what seems to 
be an essential attribute of the conceded sovereignty of the States: and who at- 
tribute to the General Government a right utterly incompatible with what all 
a knowledge to be its limited and restricted character; an error originating 
principally, as I must think, in not duly reflecting on the nature of our insti- 
tdttoat, and on what constitutes the only rational object of all political coin* 
stitntioira. ' 



45 

It ftas been well said by one of the most sag-acinug wpb of antiquitv, that 
Che object of a constitution i* t<» restrain the government . as that of laws i* to 
restrain individuals. The remark is correct, nor is it less true where the 
Government is vested in a majority, than where it is in a single or a few in- 
dividual*; in a republic, than a monarchy or aristocracy. No one can have a 
higher respect for the maxim that the majority ou»Ht to govern, than i have, 
taken in its proper sense, subject to ihe restrictions imposed by the constitu- 
tion, and confined to subjects in which every portion of the community have 
similar interests ; but it is a great error to suppose, as many do, that the 
ri<j;!H of a majority to govern is a natural and not. a conventional right; a>d, 
therefore, absolute and unlimited. By nature every individual has the right 
to govern hims -If; and governments, whether founded on majorities, or mino- 
rities, must derive their right from the assent, expressed or implied, of the 
governed, and be subject to such limitations as they may impose. Where the 
interests are the same, that is, where the laws that may benefit one, will bene- 
flr all, or the reverse.it is just and proper to place them under the control of 
tin- majority; but where they are dissimilar, so that the law that may benefit 
one portion may be ruinous to another, it would be, on the contrary, unjust 
and absurd to subject them to its will: and such, I conceive, to be the theory 
on which our constitution rests 

That such dissimilarity of interests may exist, it is impossible to doubt. 
They are to be found in every community, in a greater or less degree, how- 
ever small or homogeneous, and they constitute, every where, the great diffi- 
culty of forming, and preserving free institutions. To guard against the un- 
equal action of the laws, when applied to dissimilar and opposing interests, 
is in fact, what mainly renders a constitution indispensible; to overlook which 
in reasoning on our'Constitutiwn, would be to omit the principal element by 
which to determine its character. Were there no contrariety of interests, 
nothing would be more simple and easy than to form and preserve free insti- 
tutions. The right of suffrage alone would be a sufficient guaranty. It is 
the conflict of opposing interests which renders it the most difficult work of 
man 

Where the diversity of interests exist in separate and distinct classes of 
the communitv, as is the case in England, and was formerly the case in Spar- 
ta, Home, and most of the free States of antiquity, the rational constitutional 
provision is, that each should be represented in the Government,as a separate 
esare, with a distinct voice, and a negative on the acts of its co-estates, ia 
order to check their encroachments. In England the constitution has as>u- 
nied expressly this form; while in the governments of Sparta and Rome the 
same thing was effected, under different but not much less efficacious forms. 
The perfection of their organization, in this particular, was that which gave 
to the constitutions of these renowned States all of their celebrity, which se- 
cured their liberty for so many centuries, and raised rhem to so great a height 
of power and prosperity Indeed, a constitutional provision siting to the 
great and separate interests of the community the riglil of self protection, 
must appear to those who will duly reflect on. the subject, not less essential to 
th<e preservation of liberty than the right of suffrage itself. They in fact have 
a common object, to effect which the one is as necessary as the other— to sc- 
our responsibility; that is, that those who make and execute the laws should 
be accountable to those on whom the laws in reality operate; the only solid 
and durable foundation of liberty. K without the right of suffrage, our rulers 
would oppress us, so, without the right of self-protection, the major would 
equally oppress the minor interests of the community. The absence of the 
former would make the governed the slaves of the rulers, and of the latter 
th< feebler interests, the victim of the stronger. 

Happily for us we have no artificial and separate classes of society. We 
have viseJy exploded ail such distinctions; but we are not, on that account, 
exempt from ali contrariety of interests, as the preseu distracted and danger- 
ous conditio!* of oar country unfortunately but too clearly proves. With nf 



44 

ihev are almost exclusively geographical, resulting mainly from difference ol 
climate, soi!, situation, industry and production, but are not, therefore, lets 
necessary to be protected by an adequate constitutional provision, than where 
the distinct interest-* exist in separate classes. The necessity is, in truth, 
greater, as such separate and dissimilar geographical interests are more liable 
to come into conflict, and more dangerous when in that state, than those of any 
other description; so much so, that ours is the first instance on record, where 
they have not formed in an extensive territory, separate and independent 
communities, or subject the whole to despotic sway That such may not 
be our unhappy fate, also, must be the sincere prayer of every lover of his 
e-ountry. 

So numerous and diversified are the interests of our country, that they 
could not be fairly represented in a single government, organized so as to give> 
to each great and leading interest, a separate and distinct voice, as in govern- 
ments to which I have referred. A plan was adopted better suited to our si- 
tuation, but perfectly novel in its character. The powers of the government 
were divided, not as heretofore, in reference to classes, but geographically. 
One General Government was formed for the whole, to which was delegated 
all of the powers supposed to be necessary to regulate the interests common to 
all of the States, leaving others subject to the separate control of the States, 
being from their local and peculiar character, such that they could not be sub- 
ject to the will of the majority of the whole Union, without the certain hazard 
or injustice and oppression. It was thus that the interests of the whole were 
subjected, as they ought to be, to the will of the whole, while the peculiar and 
local interests were left under the control of the States separately, to whose 
custody only they could be safely confided. This distribution of power, set- 
tle 1 solemnly by a constitutional compact, to which all of the States are par- 
ties, constitutes the peculiar character and excellence of our political system. 
It is truly and emphatically American, without example or parallel. 

To realize its perfection, we must view the General Government and the 
States as a whole, each in its proper sphere, sovereign and independent; each, 
perfectly adapted to their respective objects; the States acting separately, 
representing and protecting the local and peculiar interests; acting jointly, 
$hr >ugh one General Government, with the weight respectively assigned to 
each by the Constitution, representing and protecting the interest of the whole 
and thus perfecting, by an admirable, but simple arrangement, the great 
principle of representation and responsibility, without which no government 
can free or just. To preserve this sacred distribution as originally settled, 
hy coercing each to move in its prescribed orb, is the great and difficult prob- 
lem, on the solution of which the duration of our Constitution, of our Union, 
and, in all probability, our liberty, depends. How is this to be effected? 

The question is new, when applied to our peculiar political organization, 
where the separate and conflicting interests of society are represented by dis- 
tinct, but connected governments; but is in reality an old question under a 
new form, long since perfectly solved. Whenever separate and dissimilar 
interests have been separately represented in any Government; whenever the 
sovereign power has been divided in its exercise, the experience and wisdom 
of ages nave devised but one mode by which such political organization can 
"ks preserved; the mode adopted in England, and by all Governments, ancient 
modern* blessed with constitutions deserving to be called free; to give to each 
co-estate the right to judge of its powers, with a negative or veto on the acts 
of the others, in order to protect against encroachments the interests it parti- 
cularly represents; a principle which all of our Constitutions recognize in the 
distribution of power among their respective departments, as essential to main- 
tain the independence of each, but which, to all who will duly reflect on the 
subject, must appear far more essential, for the same object, in that great and 
fundamental distribution of powers between the States and General Govern- 
ment. So essential is the principles, that to withhold the right from either, 
v^ere $e sovereign power is divided, is 5 in fact, t& annul the division itself, 



4§ 

and to consolidate in the one left in the exclusive possession of the rtght, att 
of the powers of the government; for it is not possibl ■■» to distinguish, practi- 
cally, between a government having all power, and one having the ri^h. to 
take what powers it pleases, Nor does it in the least vary the principle, 
whether the distribution of power be between co-estates, as in England, or 
between distinctly organized but connected governments, as with us. The 
reason is the same in both cases, while the necessity is greater in our case, as 
the danger of conflict is greater where the interests of a society are divided 
geographically, than in any other, as has already beeo shown 

These truths do seem to me to be incontrovertible, and I am at a loss to un- 
derstand how any one, who has maturely reflected on the nature of our intitu- 
tions, or who has read history or studied the principles of free government to 
any purpose, can call -them in question. The explanation must, it appears to 
me, be sought in the fact, that in every free State, there are those who look 
more to the necessity of maintaining power, than guarding against its abuses. 
I do not intend reproach, but simply to state a fact apparently necessary to 
explain the contrariety of opinions, among the intelligent, where th* abstract 
consideration of the subject would seem scarcely to admit of doubt. If such, 
be the true cause, I must think the fear of weakening the government too 
much in this case to be in a great measure unfounded, or at least that the dan- 
ger i« much less from that than the opposite side. I do not: deny that a pow- 
er of so high a nature may be abused by a State, but when I reflect that the 
States unanimously called the general government into existence with all of 
its powers, which they freely surrendered on their part, under the conviction 
that their common peace, safety, and prosperity required it; thav he* are 
bound together by a common origin, and the retollec-ion of common suffering 
and common triumph in the great and splendid achievement of ther indepen- 
dence; and the strongest feelings of our nature, and among them, the. love of 
national power and di tinction, are on the side of f he Union; it doe* seem tp 
me, that the fear which would strip the State* of their sovereignty, and de- 
grade them, in fact, to mere dependent corporations, le*t they should abuse 
a right indispensable to the peaceable protection of those interests which they 
reserved -under their own peculiar guardianship when they created the?»ene- 
ral Government, is unnatural and unreasonable. If those who voluntarily 
created the system, cannot be trusted to preserve it, what power can? 

So far from extreme danger, I hold that there never was a free state, in 
which this great conservative principle, indispensible in all, was ever so safe- 
ly lodged. In others, when the co-estates, representing the dissimilar and 
conflicting interests of the community came into contact, the only alternative 
was compromise, submission, or force. Not so in ours. Should the General 
Government and a state come into conflict, we have a higher remedy; the 
power which called the General Government into existence, which gave it all 
of its authority, and can enlarge, contract, or abolish its powers at its plea- 
sure, may be invoked. The States themselves may be appealed to, three- 
fourths of which, in fact, form a power, whose decrees arn the Constitution 
itself, and whose voice can silence all discontent. The utmost extent then of 
the power is. that a state acting in its sovereign capacity, as one of the par- 
ties to the constitutional compact, may compel the government, created by 
that compact, to submit a question touching its infraction to the parties who 
created it; to avoid the supposed dangers of which, it is proposed to resort to 
the novel, the hazardous, and, I must add, fatal project of giving to the Gen* 
eral Government the sole and final right of interpreting the Constitution, 
thereby reversing the whole system, making that instilment the creature of 
its will, instead of a rule of action impressed on it at its creation, and annihi- 
lating in fact the authority which imposed it, and from which the Government 
itself derives its existence. 

That such would be the result, were the right in question vested in the Leu 
fislative or Executive branch of the Government, is conceded by §11 ^9top 

r 



46 

lias been so hardy as to assert that Congress or the President ought to hav£ 
the right, or ro deny that, if vested finally and exclusively in either, the con- 
sequences which I have stated would not necessarily toll iw] but its advocates- 
have b.ee,n reconciled to the. doctrine, on the supposition that there is one de- 
partment of the General Government, which, from its peculiar organization* 
affords an independent tribunal through which the Government may exercise 
the high authority, which is the subject of consideration, with perfect safety 
to all. 

I yield, I trust, "to few in my attachment to the Judiciary Department. I 
am fully sensible of its importance, and would maintain it to the fullest extent 
in its constitutional power* and independence ; but it is impossible for me to 
believe that it was ever intended by the Constitution, that it should exercise 
the power in question, or that it is competent to do so, and, if it were, that it 
would be a safe depository of the power. 

Its powers are judicial and no< political, and are expressly confined by the 
Constitution * 4 to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitu- 
tion, the laws of the United States, and the treaties marie, or which shall be 
made, undents authority ;'" and which I have high authority in asserting, ex- 
cludes political questions, and comprehends those only where there are par- 
ties amenable to the process of the Court.* Nor is its incompetency less 
clear, than its wantof constitutional authority. There may be many and the 
most dangerous infractions on the part of Congress, of Which, it is conceded 
by all, the court, as a judicial tribunal, cannot from its nature take cogni- 
zance. The Tariff itself is a strong case in point: and the reason applies 
equally to all others, where Congress perverts a power frpm an object in- 
tended to one not intended* the most 'insidious and dangerous of all the infrac- 
tions; and which may be extended to all of its powers, more especially to 
the taxing and appropriating. But supposing it competent to take cogni- 
zance of alb infractions of every description, the insuperable objection still 
.remains, that it would not be a safe tribunal to exercise the power in ques- 
tion. 

It is an universal and fundamental political principle, that the power to 
protect, can safely be confided only to those interested in protecting, or their 
responsible agents — a maxim no? less true in private than in public affairs. 
Tlie danger in our system is, that the General Government, which represents 
the interests" of the whole, may encroach on the States, which represent the 
peculiar and local interests, or that the latter may encroach on the former. 

In examining this point, we ought not to forget that the Government, 
through all of its departments, judicial as well as others, is administered by 
delegated and responsible agents ; and that the power which really controls 
ultimately all the movements, is not in the agents, but those who elect or ap- 
point them. To understand then its, real character, and what would be th-e 
actum of the system in any supposable case, we lnust raise our view from the 
mere agents, to this high controlling power which finally impels every move- 
ment of the machine. By doing so, we shall find all under the control of the 
will of a majority, compounded of the majority of the States, taken as cor- 
porate bodies, and ilje majority of the people of the States estimated in fede- 
ral numbers. These united constitute the real and final power, which impels 
..and directs the movements-of the general Government. The majority of 
the States elect the majority of the Senate ; of the people of the States, that 
of the House of Representatives; the two united, the President ; and the 
President and a majority of the Senate appoint the Judges ; a majority of 
whom and a majority of the Senate and the House with the President, really 
exercise all of the powers of the Government with the exception of the cases 

*I refer to the authority of Chief Justice Mashall in the case of Jonathan Bobbins, I have 
not been able to refer to the speech, and speak from memory. 



47 

%"bere the constitution requires a greater number than a majority. The judge* 
are, in fact, as truly the judicial representatives of thi> united majority, as 
the. majority of Congress itself, or the President, is its legislative or executive 
representative ; and to confide the power to tlv judiciary to determine finally 
and conclusively what powers are delegated, and what reserved, would be in 
reality to confide it to the majority, whose agents they are, and by whom they 
can be controlled in various ways ; and, ,6t course, to subject (against the 
fundamental principle of our system, and all sound political reasoning,) the 
reserved powers of the States," with all of the local and peculiar interests 
they, were intended to protect, to the will of the very majority against which 
the protection was intended Nor will the tenure by which the Judges hold 
then office, however valuable the provision in man} other respects, materially 
vary i he case, its highest possible effect would be to retard, and not finally 
to resist, the will of a dominant majority. 

But it is useless to multiply arguments. Were it possible that reason could 
settle a question where the passions and interests of men are concerned, this 
point would have been long since settled for ever, by the State of Virginia. 
The report of her Legislature, to which \ have already referred, has really, in 
lay opinion, placed H beyond controversy. Speaking in reference to , this 
subject, it says, ** It has been objected" (to the right of a State to interpose 
for' the protection of her reserved rights) w that the judicial authority is to 
be regarded as the sole expositor of the Constitution ; on tins object it might 
be observed, first, that there may be instances of usurped powers which the 
forms of theConstitution could never draw within the control of the judicial 
department ; secondly, that if the decision of the judiciary be raised above the 
sovereign parties to the Constitution, the decisions of the other departments, 
not carried by the forms of the Constitution before the judiciary, must be 
equally authoritative and final with the decision of that department. But 
the proper answer to the objection is, that the resolution of the General As- 
sembly relates to those great and extraordinary cases, in which all of the 
forms of the Constitution may prove ineffectual against infraction dangerous 
to the essential rights of the parties to it. The resolution supposes that dan- 
gerous powers riot delegated, may not only be usurped and executed by the 
other departments, but that the judicial department may also exercise or 
sanction dangerous powers, beyond the grant of the Constitution, and conse- 
quently that the ultimate right of the parties to the Constitution to judge 
whether the compact has been dangerously violated, must extend to violations 
by one delegated authority, as well as by another — by the Judiciary, as well 
as by the Executive or Legislative. ,? 

Against these conclusive arguments, as they seem to me, it is objected, 
that if one of the party has the right to judge of infractions of the Constitu- 
tion, so has the other, and that consequently in cases of contested powers be- 
tween a State and the General Government, each would have a right to main- 
tain its opinion, as is the case when sovereign powers differ in the construc- 
tion of treaties or compacts, and that of course it would come to be a mere 
question offeree. The error is in the assumption that the General Govern- 
ment is a party to the constitutional compact. The States, as has been shown, 
formed the compact, acting as sovereign and independent communities. 
The ■ General Government is but its creature ; and though in reality a govern- 
ment with all the rights and authority which belong to any other government, 
within the, orb of its powers, it is, nevertheless, a government emanating from 
a compact between sovereigns, and partaking, in its nature and object, of the 
character of a joint commission, appointed to superintend and administer the 
interests in which all are jointly concerned, but having, beyond its proper 
sphere, no more power than if it did not exist. To deny this would be to 
deny the most incontestible facts, and the clearest conclusions ; while to ac- 
knowledge its truth, is to destroy utterly the objection that the appeal would 
be to force, in the case supposed. For if each party has a right to judge, then 



48 

under our system of govejnment, the final cognizance of a question of con- 
tested power would be in 'he States, and not in the General Government. It 
would be the duty of the latter, as in all similar cases of a contest between 
one or more of the principals and a joint commission or agency, to refer the 
contest to the principals themselves. Such are the plain dictates of reason 
and analogy both. On no sound principle can the agents have a right to fi- 
nal cognizance, as against the principals, much less to use force against them, 
to maintain their construction of their powers. Such a right would be mon- 
strous : and has never, heretofore, been claimed in similar cases. 

Thar the doctrine is applicable to the case of a contested power between 
the Staie- and the General Government, we have the authority not only of 
reason and analogy, but of the distinguished statesman already referred to. 
Mr jetf< rson, at a late period of his life, after long experience and mature 
reflect' • says, •* With respect to our State and Federal Governments, I 
do nut think (heir relations are correctly understood by foreigners.- They 
suppose the former subordinate to the latter. This is not the case. They 
are co-ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. But you may 
ask if the two departments should claim each the same subject of powe* 
where is the umpire to decide between them? In cases of little urgency or 
importance, vhe prudence of both parties will keep them aloof from the ques- 
tionable ground ; but if it can neither be avoided nor compromised, a conven- 
tion >f the States must be called to ascribe the doubtful power to that depart- 
in nt which they may think best." — It is thus that ou? Constitution, by an 
thoriztng amendments, and by prescribing the authority and mode of making 
them* hasbr a simple contrivance, with its characteristic wisdom, provided a 
power which, in the last resort, supersedes effectually the necessity and even 
the pretext for force $ a power to which none can fairly object; with which 
the interests of all are safe ; which can definitely close all controversies in 
the only effectual mode, by freeing the compact of every defect and uncer- 
tainty, by an ame^d^eut of the instrument itself. It is impossible for human 
wisdom, in a syste^ ))ke ours, to devise another mode which shall be safe and 
effectual 5 and at the same time consistent with what are the relations and ac- 
knowledged powers of the two great departments of our Government, ft 
gives a beauty and security peculiar to our system, which, if duly appreciat- 
ed, will transmit its blessings to the remotest generations : but, if not, our 
splendid anticipations of the future will prove but an empty dream- Stripped 
of all its covering, and the naked question is, whether ours is a federal or a 
consolidated government ; a constitutional or absolute one ; a government 
resting ultimately on the solid basis of the sovereignty of the States, or on the 
unrestrained will of a majority ; a form of Government, as in all othor uu-. 
limited :>nes, in which injustice and violence, and force, must finally prevail. 
Le* it never be forgotten, that where the majority rules the minority is the 
subject ; and that if vve should absurdly attribute to the former the exclusive 
right of construing the constitution, there would be in fact between the sover- 
eign and subject, under such a government, no constitution ; or at feast noth- 
ing deserving the name, or serving the legitimate object of so sacred an in- 
strument. 

How the States are to exercise this high power of interposition which con- 
stiti'"- so essential a portion of their reserved rights that it cannot be dele- 
gated without an entire surrender of their sovereignty, and converting our 
system from a federal into a consolidated government, is a question that the 
States only are competent to determine. The arguments which prove that 
they possess the power, equally prove that they are, in the langnage of Jeffer- 
son, "the rightful judge* of the mode and 'measure of redress." But the 
spirit of forbearance, as well as the nature of the right itself, forbids a re- 
course to it, except in cases of dangerous infractions of the constitution; and 
the only in fehe last resort, when all reasonable hope of relief from the ordi- 
nary action of the government has failed j when if the right to interpose did 



49 

flot exist, the alternative would be submission and oppression on one side, of 
resistance by force on the o'her. That our system should afford, in such ex- 
treme cases, an intermediate point between these dire alternatives, by 
which the government may be brought to a pause, and thereby an interval ob- 
tained to compromise differences, or, if impracticable, be compelled to sub- 
mit the question to a constitutional adjustment, through art* appeal to th% 
States themselves, is an evidence of its high wisdom ; an element hot, as is 
supposed by some, of weakness, but of strength ; not of anarchy or revolu- 
tion, but of peace and «afety. Its general recognition would of itself, in a 
great measure, if not altogther, supersede the necessity of Us exercise, byirft- 
pressing .on the movements of the Government, that modefation and jtcsfice so 
essential to harmony and peace* in a country of such vast extent and diversity 
of interests as ours; and would, iT 'controversy should conn, -urn the reserVt- 
mem of the aggrieved from the system to those whoJiad abused its powers, 
(a point all important.') and cause them to seek redress, not in revolution or 
overthrow, but in reformation. It is, in fact,- properly understood, osub' 
siitute whert the alternative would be force, iending prevent, and it that 
fails- to correct peaceably the abbtratiovs to which all political sy^ems arc 
liable, and which, if permitted to accumulate, withoul correction, must finally 
end in a general catastrophe. 

I have now said what I intended in reference to the abstract question of 
the relation of the States to the Genera,! Government, and would here con- 
clude, did i not believe that a mere general statement on an abstract ques- 
tion, without including thai which may have caused its agitation, would ba 
considered by many imperfect and unsatisfactory! Feeling that such would 
be justly the case* I am compelled, reluctantly, to touch on the Tariff, so far, 
at least, as may be necessary to illustrate the opinions which- 1 have already 
advanced. Anxious, however, to intrude as little as possible on the public 
attention, I will be as brief as possible : and with that view will, as far as may 
be consistent with my object, avoid all debateable topics. 

Whatever diversity of opinion may exist in relation to the principle, or the 
effect on the productive industry of the country, of the present, or any other 
Tariff of protection, there are certain political consequences flowing from the 
present, whicn none can doubt, and all must deplore, it would be in vain to 
attempt to conceal, that it has divided the country into two great geographical 
divisions, and arrayed them against each other, in opinion, at least, if not 
interests also, on some of the most vital of political subjects; on its finance, 
its commerce, and its industry; subjects calculated, above all others, in 
time of peace, to produce excitement, and in relation to which, the Tariff 
has placed the sections in question in deep and dangerous conflict. If 
there be any point on which the (Luas goiu^Wo say — Southern section, but to 
avoid, as far as possible, the painful feelings such discussions are calculated to 
excite,I snail s-&\ — ) weaker of the two sections is unanimous, it is that its pros- 
perity depends, in a great measure, on tree trade, light taxes, economical, and, 
as far as possible, equal disbursements of the public revenue, and an unshackled 
industry, leaving them to pursue whatever may appear most advantageous to 
their interests. From the Potomac to the Mississippi, there are few, ineieed, 
hewever divided on other points, who would not, if dependent on their voli- 
tion, and if they regarded the interest o' their particular^ection only, remove 
from commerce and industry every shackle, reduce the -revenue to the lowest 
point that the wants of the Government fairly required, and restrict the appro- 
priations to the most moderate scale, consistent with the peace, the security, 
and the engagements of the public; and who do not believe that tlie opposite 
system is calculated to throw on them an unequal burthen, to repress their 
prosperity, and to encroach on their enjoyment. 

On all these deeply important measures, the opposite opinion prevails,' if not 
with equal unanimity, with at least a great-y preponderating majoritVj in the 
nther and stronger section ; so much so* that no tw» distinct nations ever en- 



50 

tertained more opposite views of policy than these two sec lions do, on all tlw 
important points to which 1 have referred. Nor is it less certain that this un- 
happy conflict, flowing directly from the Tariff, has extended itself to the halls 
of legislation, and has converted the deliberations of Congress into an aunual 
struggle between the two sections; the stronger to maintain and increase the 
superiority it has already acquired, and the uther to throw oil' or diminish its 
burdens; a struggle in which .all the noble and generous feelings of patriotism 
are gradually subsiding into sectional and selfish attachments.* Nor has the 
effect of this dangerous conflict ended here. It lias not only divided the two 
sections on the important point already stated, but on the deeper and more 
dangerous questions, the constitutionality of a protective Tariff", and the gene- 
ral principles and theory of the Constitution itself; the stronger, in order to 
maintain their superiority, giving a construction to the instrument which the 
mother believes would convert the General Government into a consolidated-, irre- 
sponsible Government, with the total destruction of liberty; and the weaker, 
seeing no hope of relief with such assumption of powers turning its eye to the 
reserved sovereignty of the States, as the only refuge from oppression. I shall 
not extend the^.ii remarks, as I might, by showing that, while the effect of the 
system of protection was rapidly alienating one section, it was not less rapidly T 
by its necessary operation, distracting and corrupting the other; and between 
the two, subjecting the administration to violent and sudden changes, totally 
inconsistent with all stability and wisdom in the management of the affairs of 
the nation, of which we already see fearful symptoms. Nor do I deem it ne- 
cessary to inquire wlictherthis unhappy conflict grows out of true or mistaken 
views of interest on either or both sides. Regarded in either light, it ought to 
admonish us of the extreme danger to which our system is exposed, and the 
great moderation and wisdom necessary to preserve it. If it comes from mis- 
taken views; if the interests of the two sections as affected by the Tariff be 
yeaily the same, and the system, instead of acting unequally, in reality diffuses 
equa' blessings, and imposes equal burdens on every part, it ought to teach us 
how liable those who are differently situated, and who view their interests un- 
der different aspects, are to come to different conclusions, even when their in- 
terests are strictly the same; and, consequently, with what extreme caution 
any system of policy ought to be adopted, and with what a spirit of moderation 
pursued, in a country of such great extent and diversify as ours. But if, on 
the contrary, the conflict springs really from contrariety of interests ; if the 
burden be on one side and the benefit on the ether; then are we taught a les- 
soh not less important, how little regard we have for the interests of others 
while in pursuit of our own. or at least, how apt we are to consider our own 
interest the interest of all others; and, of course, how great the dangernn a 
country of such acknowledged diversity of interests, of the oppression of the 
feebler by the stronger interest, and, in consequence of it, of the most fatal 
sectional conflicts. But whichever may be the cause, the real or supposed di- 
versity of interest, it cannot be doubted that the political consequences of the 
prohibitory system, be it's effects in other respects beneficial or otherwise, are 
really such as I ttavp stated ; nor can it be doubted, that a conflict between the 
great sections on questions so vitally important, indicates a condition of the 
country so distempered and dangerous, as to demand the most serious and 
prompt attention. It is only when we come to consider of the remedy, that 
under the aspect I vM\ viewing the subject, there can be, ttmoiig the informed 
and considerate, any diversity of opinion. 

Those who have not duly reflected on its dangerous and inveterate charac- 
acter, suppose that the disease will cure itself; ^that events ought to be left to 
take their own course; and that experience, in a short time, will prove that 

*The system, if continued, must end, not only in subjecting the industry and properly of" the 
■weaker section to the control of' the stronger, hut in proscription and political disfranchisement. 
It must finally control elections and appointments to offices, as well as acts of legislation, to the 
great increase of the feelings of animosity, and of the fatal tendency *o a complete alienation be- 
tween the sections, . 



M 

the interest of the whole, community is the same ia reference to the Tariff^ or 
at least, whatever diversity there may now be, time will assimilate. Such ha* 
been their language from the beginning, but unfortunately the progress of 
events has been the reverse. The country is now more divided than in 1824^ 
and then more than in 18Ip. The majority may have increased, but the op- 
posite sides are beyond dislute more determined and excited than at any pre- 
ceding' period. Formedjt-the system was resisted mainly as inexpedient ; but 
now as unconstitutional unequal, unjust, and oppressive. Then relief was 
sought exclusively from tht General Government; but now many, driven to 
despair, are rasing their ejes to the reserved sovereignty of the States as the 
only refuge. If we turn from the past and present to the future, we shall find 
nothing to lessen, but much to aggravate the danger. The increasing embar- 
rassment and distress of the staple States, the growing conviction from expe- 
rience. that they aie caused by the prohibitory system principally, and that, un- 
der its continued operation, their present pursuits must become profitless, and 
with a conviction that their great and peculiar agricultural capital cannot be- 
diverted from its ancient add hereditary channels without ruinous losses, all 
concur to increase, instead off dispelling the gloom that hangs over the future. 
In fact, to those who will duly reflect on the subject, the hope that the disease 
will cure itself must appear perfectly illusory. The question is in- reality one 
between i\m exporting and non-exporting interests of the country. Were there 
no exports, there would be no Tariff. It would be perfectly useless. On the? 
contrary, so long as there are States which raise the great agricultural staples 
with the view of obtaining their supplies, and which must depend on the gene- 
ral market of the world for their sales, the conflict must remain if the system 
should continue, and the disease become more and more inveterate. Their 
interest, and that of those who by high duties would confine the purchase of 
their supplies to the home market, must, from the nature of things in refer- 
ence to the Tariff, be in conflict. Till then, we cease to raise the great sta- 
ples, cotton, rice, and tobacco, for the general market, and tiil we can find some 
other profitable investment for the irmnence amount of capital and labor now 
employed in their production, the present anhappy and dangerous conflict can- 
not terminate, unless with the prohibitory system itself. 

In the mean time, while idly waiting for its termination through its own ac- 
tion, the progress of events in another quarter is rapidly bringing the contest 
to an immediate and.decisive issue. We are fast approaching a period very 
novel in the history of nations, and bearing directly and powerfully on the point 
under consideration, the final payment of a long-standing funded debt—a pe- 
riod that cannot be sensibly retarded, or thh natural consequences of it eluded^ 
without proving disastrous to those who attempt either, if not to the country 
itself. When it arrives, the Government would find itself in possession of a 
surplus revenue of 810,000,000 or S12,000,'JOO, if not previously disposed of, 
which presents the important question, what previous disposition ought to be 
made — a question which must press urgently for decision at the very next ses- 
sion of Congress. It can not be delayed longer without the most distracting 
and dangerous censgquences. 

The honest and obvious couise is, to prevent the accumulation of the surplus 
in the.Treasury by a timely and judicious reduction of the imposts; and there- 
by to leave the money in the pockets of those who made it, and from whom it 
cannot be honestly nor constitutionally taken, unless required by the fair and 
legitimate wants of the Government. If. neglecting a disposition so obvious 
and just, the Government should attempt to keep up the present high duties, 
when the money was no longer wanted, or to dispose of this immense surplus 
by enlarging the old, or devising new schemes. of appropriations; or, finding 
that to be impossible, it should adopMhe most dangerous, unconstitutional, and 
absurd project ever devised by any Gov^ rnment, of dividing the surplus among 
the States — (a project which, if carried into execution, would not fail to create 
an antagonist interest between the States and General Government, on all 
questions of appropriations, which would certainly end in reducing the latter 



m 

io sl mere office of collection and distribution)— either of these modes would b© 
considered by the section suffering under the present high duties, as a fixed 
determination to perpetuate forever what it considers the present unequal, un^ 
constitutional, and oppressive burden; and from that moment it woufd cease 
to look to the General Government for relief. This deeply interesting period, 
which must prove so disastrous, should a wrong direction be given, but so for- 
tunate and glorious, should a right oue, is just at hand. The work must com- 
mence at the next session, as I have stated, or be left undone, or, at least, be 
baftly done. The succeeding session would be too short and too much agi- 
tated bv the presidential contest, to afford the requisite leisure and cal nness; 
and the one succeeding would find the country in the midst of the crisis, when 
it would be too late to prevent an accumulation of the surplus ; which I hazard 
nothing; in 'savittg^ju4ging from the nature of men and government, if once 
pe lifted to accumulate, would create an interest strong enough to perpetuate 
itself, supported, as it would be, by others so numerous and powerful ; and thus 
Would pass away a moment, never to^be quietly recalled, so precious, if prop- 
er' 1 used, to lighten the public burden; to equalize the action of the Govern- 
meat; to restore harmony and peace; and to present to the. world the ilius- 
ti'i )'is example, which could not fail to prove most favorable to the great cause 
of liberty <everv where, of a nation the freest, and, at the same time, the best 
and nost cheaply governed ; of the highest earthly blessing, at the least possi- 
ble sacrifice. 

As the disease will not. then, heal itself, we are brought to the question, can 
a remedy oe applied ; and, if so, what ought it to be? 

To answer in the negative would be to assert that our Union has utterly 
failed ; and that the opinion, so common before the adoption of our Constitu- 
tion,, rhar i free Government could not be practically extended over a large 
Country, was correct ; and that ours had been destroyed by giving it limits so 
gr>^r as to comprehend not only dissimilar but irreconcilable interests. 1 am 
not prepare ' to admit ^conclusion that would cast so deep a shade on the future, 
and that would falsify all the gloriousanticipationsofour ancestors,- while it would 
s greatly lessen their high reputation for wisdom. Nothing but the clearest de- 
mo:- -nation, founded on actual experience, will ever force me to a conclusion 
so . bhorrent to ail of my feelings. £As strongly as I am impressed with the 
great dissimilarity, and as I must add as truth compels me to do, contrariety 
o s interests, in our country, resulting from the causes already indicated, and 
;h are so great that they cannot be subjected to the unchecked will of a 
►pity of the whole, without defeating the great end of government, and 
>ut which it is a curse — justice ; yet I see in the Union, as ordained by the 
Constitution, the means, if wisely used, not only of reconciling all diversities, 
bat also the means, and the only effectual one; of securing to us justice, peace, 
and security,, at home and abroad, and with them that national power and re- 
nown, the love of which Providence has implanted, for wise purposes, so 
>ly in the human heart; in all of which great objects, every portion of 
our country, widely extended and diversified as it is, has a common and iden- 
tical interest, li we have the wisdom to place a proper relative estimate on 
these more elevated and durable blessings, - the present and every other con- 
flict of 'ike character may be readily terminated ; but if, reversing the scale, 
each section should put a higher estimate on its immediate and peculiar gains ; 
and, acting in that spirit, should push favorite measures of mere policy, with- 
out some regard to peace, harmony, or justice,our sectional conflicts would then 
indeed, without some constitutional check, become interminable t except by the 
dissolution of the Union itself. That we have,in fact,so reversed the estimate is 
too certain to be doubted, and the result is our present distempered and danger- 
ous condition. • The cure must commence in the correction of the error; and. 
not to admit that we have erred would be the worst possible symptom. It would 
prove the disease to be incurable, through the regular and ordinary process of 
legislation-; and would compel, finally, a resort to extraordinary ,but I still trust? 
not only constitutional but safe remedies. 



53 

No one would more sineeHy rejoice than myself to see the remedy applied 
from the quarter #h*»re it could b" rooM easily and r j u;jlarlv done. It is the 
only ^vay by which those who think that it is the only quarter from which it can 
constitutionally come, can possibly sustain their opinion. To omit the appli- 
ea'ion, by rhe General Government, would compel even them to admit the 
truth of the opposite opinion, or force them to abandon our political system in 
despair; while, on the other hand, all their enlightened and patriotic opponents 
would rejoice at such evidence of moderation and wisdom, on the parr ol rhe 
General Government, as would supersede a resort to what they believe to be 
the higher powers of our political *y-tem, as indicating a sounder state of pub- 
lic sentiment than ha* ever heretofore existed in any country, and thus afford* 
ing the highest possible assurance of the perpetuation of our glorious institu- 
tions to the latest generation. For, as a people advauce in knowledge, in the 
same degree they may dispense with mere artificial restrictions in their Go- 
vernment; and we may imagine (but dare not expect to see it) a state of intelli- 
gence *o universal and high that all the guards of liberty may be dispensed with 
except an enlightened public opinion, acting through ihe right of suffrage ; out 
it pre supposes a state where every class and every section of the community 
are capable of estimating the effects of every measure, not only as it may af- 
fect itself, but every other class and section; and of fully realising the sub- 
lime truth that the highest and wisest policy consists in maintaining justice, and 
promoting peace and harmony; and that, compared to these, schemes of mere 
gain are but trash and dross. I fear experience has already proved that we 
are far removed from such a state, and that we must consequently rely on tho 
old and clumsy, but approved mode, of checking power, in order to prevent 
•r correct abuses ; but [ do trust that though far Irom perfect, we are at least 
so much so as as to be capable of remedying th«* present disorder in the ordi- 
nary way; and thus to prove that with us public opinion is so enlightened and 
our political machine so perfect as rarely to require forits preservation the in- 
tervention of the power that created it. How is that to be effected ? 

The application may be painful, but the remedy, I conceive, is certain and 
simple. There is but one effectual cure, an honest reduction of the duties to 
a fair system of revenue, adapted to the just and constitutional wants of the 
Government. Nothing short of this will restore the country to peace, harmo- 
ny, and mutual affection. There is already a deep and growing conviction, 
in a large section of the country, that rhe imposts, even as a revenue system, 
is extremely unequal, and that it is mainly paid by those who furnish the 
means of paying the foreign exchanges of the country on which it is laid ; and 
that the case is not varied, taking into the estimate the entire action of the sys.- 
tern, whether the producer orcoosuner pays in the first instance. 

1 do not propose to enter formally into the discussion of a point so complex 
and contested ; but as it has necessarily a strong practical bearing on the sub- 
ject under consideration, in all its relations, I cannot pass it without a few ge- 
neral and brief remarks: 

If the producer in reality pays, none will doubt but the burden would mainly 
fall on the section it is supposed to do. The theory that the consumer pays in 
the first instance, renders the proposition more complex, and will require, in 
order to understand where the burden in reality ultimately falls, on that sup- 
position to consider the protective, or as its friends call it, the American Sys- 
tem, under its three-fold aspect of taxation, of protection, and of distribution, 
or as performing, at the same lime, the several functions of giving a revenue 
to the Government, of affording protection to certain branches of domestic in- 
dustry, and furnishing means to Congress of distributing large sums, through 
its appropriations ; all of which arr* so blended in their effects, that it is im- 
possible to understand its true operation, without taking the whole into the 
estimate. 

Admitting then, as supposed, that he who consumes the article pays the tax 
ill the increased price, and that the burden falls wholly on the consumers; 
8 



E 



6% 

ifrffliour affecting the producers as a class, (which, by ihe by, is far from being 
true, except in the single case, if there be such a one, where the producers 
have a monopoly of an article, so indispensable to life, that the quantity con- 
sumed cannot be affected by any increase of price,) and that considered in 
the light of a tax, merely, the impost duties fall equally on every section in 
proportion to its population, still when combined with its other effects, the 
burden it imposes, as a tax, may be so transferred from one section to the 
other, as to take it from one and place it wholly on the other. Let us apply 
the remark first to its operation as a system of protection: 

The tendency of the tax, or duty, on the imported article is, not only to 
raise its price, but also, in the same proportion, that of the domestic article of 
the same kind, for which purpose, when intended for protection, it is in fact 
laid ; and of course, in determining where the system ultimately places the 
burden in reality, this effect also must be taken into the estimate. If one of 
the lections exclusively produces such domestic articles, and the other pur- 
chases them from it, then it is clear that, to the amount of such increased 
rices, the tax or duty on the consumption of foreign articles, would be trans- 
erred from the section producing the domestic articles to the one that pur- 
chased and consumed them, unless the latter, in turn, be indemnified by the 
increased price of the objects of its industry, which none will venture to as- 
sert to be the case with the great staples of the country, which form the basis 
of our exports, the price of which is regulated by the foreign and not the do- 
mestic market. To those who grow them, the increased price of the foreign- 
and domestic articles both, in consequence of the duty on the former, is in 
reality and in the strictest sense, a tax, while it is clear that the increased 
price of the latter acts as a bounty to the section producing them, and that as 
the amount of such increased pi ices, on what it sells to the other section, is 
greater or less than the duty it pays on the imported articles, the system will 
in fact operate as a bounty or tax ; if greater, the tlifference would be a boun- 
ty ; if less, a tax. 

Again, the operation may be equal in every other respect, and yet the pres- 
sure of the system, relatively, on the two sections, be rendered very unequal 
by the appropriations or distribution. If each section receives back what it 
paid into the treasury, the equality if it previously existed will continue; but if 
one receives back less, and the other proportionally more than is paid, then the 
difference in relation to the sections will be to the former a loss, and to the 
latter a gain; and the system in this aspect would operate to the amount oi the 
difference, as a contribution from the one receiving less than it paid to the 
other that receives more. Such would be incontestibly its general effects, 
taken in all its different aspects, even on the theory supposed to be most favor- 
able to prove the equal action of the system, that the consumer pays in the 
first instance the whole amount of the tax. 

To show how, on this supposition, the burden and advantages of the system 
Would actually distribute themselves between the sections, would carry me 
too far into details; but I feel assured, after full aud careful examination, that 
they are such as to explain what otherwise would seem inexplicable, that one 
section should consider its repeal a calamity and the other a blessing; and 
that such opposite views should be taken by them, as to place them in a state 
of determined conflict in relation to the great fiscal and commercial interests 
of the country. Indeed were there no satisfactory explanation, the opposite 
views that prevail in the two sections, as to the effects of the system, ought to 
satisfy all of its unequal action. There can be no safer, or more certain rule, 
than to suppose each portion of the country equally capable of understanding 
their respective interest; and that each is a much better judge of the effects of 
any system or measures on its peculiar interest, than the other can possibly be. 

But whether the opinion of its unequal action be correct or erroneous, no- 
thing can be more certain than that the impression is widely extending itself, 
* ffoat the system, under all its modifications, is essentially unequal; and if t*> 



ss 

lj\at be added a oonvietion still deeper, and more universal, that every duf^ 
imposed fov the purpose of protection, is not only unequal, but also uncoristi* 
tuiionaU it would be a fatal error to suppose 'hat any remedy, short of that 
which I have stated, can heal our political disorders. 

In order to understand more fully the difficulty of adjusting this unhappy 
contest on any other ground, it may not be improper to present a general view 
of the constitutional objection, that it may be clearly seen how hopeless it is 
to expect that it can be yielded by those who have embraced it. 

They believe that all the powers, vested by the constitution in congress, 
are not only restricted by the limitations expressly imposed, but also by the 
nature and object of the powers themselves. Thus, though the power to im- 
pose duties on imports be granted in general terms, without any other express 
limitations bu* that they shall be equal, and no preference shall be given to 
the ports of one State over those of another, yet as being a portion of the tax- 
ing power, given with the view of raising revenue.it is from its nature res- 
tricted to that object, as much so as if the Convention had expressly so limit- 
ed it; and that to use it to effect any other purpose, not specified in the Con- 
titution, is an infraction of the instrument in its most dangerous form — an in- 
fraction by perversion, nore easily made, and more difficult to resist, than any 
other. The same view is believed to be applicable to the power of regulating 
commerce, as well as all the other powers. To surrender this important prin- 
ciple, it is conceived, would be to surrender all power, and to render the 
government unlimited and despotic; and to yield it up, in relation to the 
particular power in question, would be in fact to surrender the control of the 
whole industry and capital of the country to the General Government; and 
would end in placing the weaker section in a colonial relation with the stron- 
ger For nothing are more dissimilar in their nature, or may be more unqual- 
Iy affected by the same laws, than different descriptions of labor and proper- 
ty; and if taxes, by increasing the amount and changing the intent onlv, may 
be perverted, in fact, into a system of penalties and rewards, it would give all 
the power that could be desired to subject the labor and property of the mino- 
rity to the will of the m ijority, to be regulated without regarding the interest 
of the former, in subserviency to the will of the latter. Thus thinking it 
would seem unreasonable to expect, that any adjustment, based on the recog- 
nition ot the correctness of a construction of the Constitution, which would 
admit the exercise of such a power, would satisfy the weaker of two sections, 
particularly with its peculiar industry and property, which experience has 
shown may be so injuriously effected by its exercise. Thus much for one 
side. 

The jufst claim of the other ought to be equally respected. Whatever ex- 
citement the system has justly caused, in certain portions of our country, I 
hope, and believe, all will conceive that the change should be made with the 
least possible detriment to the interests of those who may be liable to be af- 
fected by it, consistently with what is justly due to others and the principles of 
the Constitution. To effect this, will require the kindest spirit of conciliation, 
and the utmost skill; but, even with these, it will be impossible to make the 
transition, without a shock greater or less; though I trust, if judiciously ef- 
fected, it will not be without many compensating advantages. That there* 
"will be some such cannot be doubted. It will, at least, be followed by great- 
er stability, and will tend to harmonize the manufacturing with all of th6 
other great interests of the country, and bind the whole in mutual affection. 
But these are not all. Another advantage of essential importance to the ul- 
timate prosperity of our manufacturing industry will follow. 7/ will cheapefo 
production ; and, in that view, the loss of any one branch, will be nothing 
like in proportion to the reduction of duty on that particular branch. Every 
reduction will, in fact, operate as a bounty to every other branch, except the. 
one reduced; and thus the offect ef a gekeral rejiucueji wRl be t© cheapen. 



56 

$?n verbally, the price of production, by cheapening living, wages and mate"* 
rial": -o as 10 give, if nor pqnal profits af'er the reduction, profits by n«» mean* 
reduced proportionally to the duties; an effect which, as it regards 'he foreign 
markets, is of the utmost importance. It must b^ apparent on reflection, that 
the means adopted to secure the home market for our manufactures, are pre- 
cisely the opposite of those necessary to obtain the foreign. In the former, 
the increased expense of production in consequence of a system of protection 
tnay be more than compensated by the increased price at home of the article 
prorected; but. in the latter this advantage is lost, and as there is no other 
corresponding compensation, the increased cost of production must be a dead 
loss in the foreign market But whether these advantages, and many others 
that might be mentioned, will ultimately compensate to the full extent or not 
the loss to the manufacturers on the reduction of the duties, certain it is, that 
we have approached a point at which a great change cannot be much longer 
delaved; and that the more promptly it may be met, the less excitement there 
will b<\ and the greater leisure and calmness, for a cautious and skilful opera- 
tion in making the transition; and which it becomes chose more immediately 
in'er^sted duly to consider. Nor ought they overlook, in considering the 
question, the different character of the claims of the two sides The one 
asks from Government no advantage, but simply to be let alone in the undis- 
turm d possession of their natural advantages*, and to secure which as far as 
Was consistent with the other objects of the Constitution, was one of 
their leading motives in entering into the Union; while the other side claims, 
for the advancement of their prosperity, the positive interference of the Go- 
vernment In such cases, on ev^ry principle of fairness and justice, such in- 
terference ought to be restrained within limits strictly compatible with the 
natural advantages of the other. H" who, looking to all of the causes in ope- 
ration, the near approach of the final payment of the public debt; the growing 
dis tfection and resistance to the system, in so large a section of the country; 
the deeper principles on which opposition to it is gradually tu ning; must be, 
indeed, infatuated not to see a great change is unavoidable: and that the at- 
tempt to elude or much longer delay it, must finally but increase the shock, 
and disastrous consequences which may follow. 

In forming the opinions 1 have expressed, I have not been actuated by an 
unkind feeling toward* our manufacturing interest. I now am, and ever have 
been decidedly Friendly to them, though 1 cannot concur in all of the mea- 
sures which have been adopted to advance them. I believe considerations 
higher that; an v question of mere pecuniary interest, forbade their use. But 
subordinate to these higher view- of policy. I regard the advancement of me- 
chanical and chemical improvements in the arts wi?h feelings little short of en- 
thusiasm; not only as the prolific soUice of national and individual wealth, but 
as the great means of enlarging the domain of man over the material world; 
and thereby, of laving the s<«lid foundation of a highly improved condition of 
Society, morally and politically. I fear not that we >hall extend our power too 
fai over the great agents of nature ; bur on the contrary, I consider such en- 
largonnt of our power, as tending, more certainly and powerfully, to better 
thv condition of our race, ?han any one of the many powerful causes now oper- 
ating to that result. With these impressions, I not only rejoice at the gene- 
ral progress of the arts in the world, but in their advancement in our own 
country; and, as far as protection can be incidentally afforded, in the fair 
and honest exercise of our constitutional powers, I think now, as 1 have al- 
ways done that sound policy, connected with the security, independence and 
pea^e of the country, requires them to be protected, but that we cannot go a 
single step beyond wi'hout jeopardizing our peace, our harmony, and our li- 
berty ; considerations of infinitely more importance to us than any measure of 
mere policy, can possibly be. 

in thus placing my opinions before the public, I have not been actuated bj 



SI 

the expectation of changing the public sentiment. Such a motive, on a ques- 
tion so loigagita«ed, and so be>et with fe*- lings of prejudice ami iruer<*st, would 
argue, on my pott, an insufferable vanity, and a profound ignorance of the 
human heart. To avoid, as far as possible, the imputation of either, I have 
confined my statement on the many and important points on which I have 
been compelled to touch, to a simple declaration of mv opinion, without ad- 
vancing any other reasons to sustain them, than what appeared to me to be 
indispensable to the full understanding of mv views, and if they should, on 
any point, be thought to be not clearly and explicitly developed, it will, I 
trust, be attributed to my solicitude to avoid the imputations to which I have 
alluded, and not from any desire to 4 isguise my sentiments; nor the want of 
arguments and illustrations to maintain positions, which so abound in both, 
that it would require a volume to do them any thing like justice. I can only 
hope that truths, which I feel assured are essentially connected with all that 
we ought to hold most dear, may nor be weakened«in the public estimation by 
the imperfect manner in which I have been, by the object in view, compelled 
to present them. 

With every caution on my part, I dare not hope, in taking the step F have, 
to escape the imputation of improper motives; though I have, without reserve, 
freely expressed my opinions, not regarding whether they might or might 
not, be popular. 1 have no reason to believe that they are such as will con- 
ciliate public favor, but the opposite; which I greatly regret, as 1 have ever 
placed a high estimate on the good opinion of my fellow citizens. But, be that 
as it may, \ shall, at least, be sustained by feelings of conscious rectitude. I 
have formed my opinions after the most careful and deliberate examination, 
with all the aids which my reason and experience could furnish: 1 have ex- 
pressed them honestly and fearlessly, regardless of their effects personally, 
which, however interesting to me individually, are of to<- little importance to 
be taken into the estimate, where the liberty and happiness of our country 
are so vitally involved. 

Fort Hill, Julymh, 1831. JOHN C. CALHOUN. 



MR. JEFFERSON, THE AUTHOR OF THE KENTUCKY RESOLU- 
TIONS. 

From the Richmond Enquirer, March IS. 
NULLIFICATION. AN ERROR CORRECTED. 

We have come before the public to correct an error into which we have be- 
trayed them. Some of the politicians of South Carolina had maintained the 
op-nion that Mr. Jefferson was not only the friend, but the father of the doc- 
trine of Nullification — and their principal argument was, that he was the 
author of the Kentucky Resolutions of '99. as well as those of '98 — and that 
in those of '99, is to b* 1 found the memorable passage, that *' The several 
S'ates who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have 
the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction; and that a nullification, 
by those sovereignities of all unauthorised acts, done under colour of that 
instrument, is the rightful remedy " 

We had a great curiosity to ascertain the truth of this opinion. We hunt- 
ed up all the facts that were within our reach; weighed them as impartially 
as we could; and we arrived at a different conclusion from that of the State 
Right Politicians of South Carolina. We expressed our opinions in the En- 
quirer of the 13th of September last. 

We have now to state our conviction, THAT WE WERE WRONG, 
AND THE SOUTH CAROLINIANS WERE RIGHT, AS TO MR JEF- 
FERSON'S OPINIONS. A small MS. book has been found among his pa- 
pers, which, witii other article*, corUias two Gopies iahis own hand writing? 



thai appear to have been the original of Kentucky Resolutions. The first of 
these is blurred, and much corrected, with passages struck out, and others 
interlined. The other is a fair and later copy, judging from the color of the 
paper and of the ink, of Mr. J's. draught. We are indebted to his grandson 
for the permission to examine ihese MS. and compare them with the printed 
copies of the Kentucky Resolutions — and for the < pp» rtunity of correcting 
our own mistake, and of laying the following result before ourVeaders: 
Kentucky Resolutions— Nov. 10, 1798. 
The first seven of these resolutions, are the same with those of Mr Jeffer> 
son's draught, with the exception of a word, here and there. For instance, 
where the 1st Resolution uses this phrase "as in all other cases of compact 
among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to 
judge for itself, as well of infractions, as of the mode and measure of re- 
dress" — Mr. J uses the word "powers" instead of "parties." 

In the 2d Res. the date of the Bank bill is left blank in the MS. — and the 
word " so" is put in before the word " enumerated." 

3d Res i the words 8 * entitled to act" are put into the title of Sedition act, 

•'an act, in addition to the act, entitled an act," &c. — and the last word of 

the resolution (" altogether void, and of no effect") is put in the MS. "force." 

4th Res., the day of the month in reciting the title of the Alien Act is 

omitted in the MS 

6th Res. — " without [having witnesses in his favor," is in the MS, "with- 
out hearing," &c. — and in fjie same resolution, in speaking of the President, 
"who already possesses all the Executive, and qualified negative in ail the 
Legislative powers," the word qualified is not used by Mr. J. 

7th Res. 2d line — Mr. J. uses the word "evidenced." instead of "evinced." 
And further on, the words " or officer" is put in after "or any department." 
* k The whole residue of the instrument," Is pu? " the whole residue of that 
instrument" — "Will be a fit and necessary subj- ci/or revisal," is put "of 
revisal." &c. 

The 8th Resolution in the Kentucky paper does not appear in the MS. — 
Resold ions, viz: "Resolved, That the preceding resolutions be transmitted 
to the .Senators and Representatives in Congress from this Commonwealth, 
who are hereby enjoined to present the same to their respective Houses, and 
use their best endeavors to procure at the next session of Congress, a repeal 
of the aforesaid unconstitutional and obnoxious acts." 

But it is in the 9th Resolution, that the material variation occurs. We print 
this resolution so as to show both the shape in which it was adopted by the 
Legislature of Kentucky — viz: The words in italics are those which are sub- 
stituted by the Legislature — and those in brackets Q ] are such as appear iH 
the MS. They run thut: 

Resolved, lastly, That the Governor ofthi* ( ommonwealth he, and is hereby 
authorized and requested [a committee of conference and correspondence be 
appointed, who shall have in charge] to communicate the preceding resolu- 
tions to the Legislatures of the several States, to assure them that this Com- 
monwealth [continues in the same esteem for their friendship and union, which 
it has manifested, from that moment at which a common danger first sug- 
gested a common union; that it,] considers Union for specified National pur- 
poses, and particularly for those specified in their late Federal compact, to be 
friendly to the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all the States: that faithful 
to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was un- 
derstood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its 
preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the 
powers of self-government, and transfer them to a general and consolidated 
Government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations 
solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness, or pi s- 
perity or these States^ And that, therefore, this Commonwealth is determin* 



59 

..€d, a* it doubts aot its Co Sfates are tamely pa© such word ia the MS.] to 
'sumnit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited, powers in no man or body 
of men on earth: [That in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the 
members of the General Government being; chosen by the people, a change by 
the People would be the Constitutional Remedy; but where powers are as- 
sumed which have notbeen delegated. A NULLIFICATION OF THE ACT 
IS THE RIGHTFUL REMEDY: that every State has a natural right in 
eases not wiihin the compact {casus non foederis) to nullify of their own au* 
thorny all assumptions of powers by others within their limits: that without 
thn right they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of who- 
soever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless this 
Commonwealth, from motives of regard and respect for its Co-States, has 
wished to communicate with them on the subject; that with them alone it pro- 
puses to communicate, rhey alone being parties to the compact, and solely 
authorised to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it — Con- 
gress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject 
as to its assumption of its powers to the final judgment of those by whom and 
for whose use itself and its powers were all created:] that if the acts before 
specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them; that the 
General Government may place any act they think proper on the list of 
crimes, and punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by 
the constitution as cognizable by them; that they may transfer its cognizance 
to the President or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, coun- 
sel, judge and jury whose suspicions may be the evidence, his order the sen- 
tence, his officer, the executioner, and his breast the sole record of the trans- 
action; that a very numerous and valuable description of the inhabitants of 
these States, being by this precedent, reduced as outlaws to the absolute do- 
minion of one man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept away from 
us all, no rampart now remains against the passions and the power of a ma- 
jority of [in] Congress to protect from a like exportation to other more 
grievous punishment the minority of the same body, the Legislatures, Judges, 
Governors and Counselors of the States, nor their other peaceable inhabitants, 
who may venture to reclaim the Constitutional rights and liberties of the 
States and people; or, who for other causes good or bad, may be obnoxious 
to the views, or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be thought 
dangerous to his or their elections or other interests, public or personal; that 
the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first 
experiment; but the citizen will soon follow, or rather has already followed; 
for, already has a Sedition Act marked him as its prey; that these and suc- 
cessive acts of the same character, unless arrested on [at] the threshold, may 
tend to [necessarily] drive these States into revolution and blood, and will 
furnish new calumnies against Republican Government, and new pretexts for 
those who wish it to be believed, that man cannot be governed but by a rod of 
iron; that it would a dangerous delusion, were a confidence in the men of our 
choice, to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; that confidence is every 
where the parent of despotism; free Government is founded in jealousy and 
not in confidence, it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited 
Constitutions to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power; 
that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, 
our confidence may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence, read the 
Alien and Sedition Acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in 
fixing limits to the Government it created, and whether we should be wise in 
destroying those limits? Let him say what the Government is, if it be not 
a tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred on the [our] President, 
and the President of our choice has assented to, and accepted over the friend- 
ly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws had pledged 
IpspitaHty and protections that the men ©f oar choiee have more respected. 



60 

the bare suspicions of the President, than the solid rights of innocence, the 
claim* of justification, the <acred force of tru'h. and the forms and substance 
of IiW and justice, [n questions of power, then let no m>re oe h^ard <^f con- 
fidence in man;. but bio I him down from mischief, by the Constitution. That 
this Common w j dth does therefore call on its Co-States for an expression of 
their sentiments on the acts concerning aliens, and for th<» punishment of 
Certain crimes herein-bef >re specified, plainly declaring whether these acts 
are or are not authorized by the Federal Compact? And it doubts not, that 
their sense will be so enounced, as to prove their attachment unaltered to 
limited government, whether general or particular, and *hat the rights md 
liberties of their Co states, will be exposed to no dangers by remaining 
embarked on a common bottom with their own; that they will concur with 
this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably against the 
Constitution, as to amount to an undisguised declaration, (hat the [that] com- 

Eact is not meant to be the measure of powers of the General Government, 
ut that it will proceed in the exercise over these States of all powers what- 
soever; that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consoli- 
dating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed 
to bind the States, (n t merely in [the] cases made Federal,) [casus foederis] 
but in all cases whatsoever, by the laws made, not with their consent, hu' by- 
Other against their consent; that this would be to surrender the form of Govern- 
ment we have chosen, and to live under one deriving its powers from its own 
will, and not from our authority; and that the Co-states recurring to their na- 
tural right in cases, not made Federal, will concur in declaring ihese acts void, 
and of no force, and will each unite with this ( ommonwealth in requesting their 
repeal at the next session of Congress [EACH W ILL TAKE MEASURES OF 
ITSOWNFOR PROVIDING IH AT NEITHER THESE ACTS.NOR ANY 
OTHERS OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT NOT PLAINLY AND 
IN TEN HON ALLY AUTHORISED BY l HE COVSTiTn TION.SHALL 
BE EXERCISED WITHIN THEiR RESPECTIVE TERRITORIES. ) 

[Resolved. That the said committee be aumonzel to communicate by writing 
or personal conference, at any times or places whatevei,with any person or per- 
sons who may be appointed by any one or more of the States, to correspond or 
confer wtth them — and that they lay their proceedings before the next session 

of Assembly.] 

KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS OF '98. 

We were right as to the style of this paper. However its sentiments may 
coincide with those of Mr J fterson, the composition is not > is— with one me- 
morable exemption, * 'nullification is the rightful remedy'' — thus appearing as 
if they had used nearly all his draught at one session, but kept up for a stronger 
blo'.v,the remedy of nullification, for the subsequent session. — With the ex- 
ception of this phrase, the preamble and the test of the resolution are from a 
different pen. This, however, is immaterial. — The doctrine is his. The mea- 
sure .too, to which they resorted, is not as distinct and immediate as his draught 
puts forth* They throw themselves upon a »• solemn protest " — but he was for 
appointing a Committees of Conference with the other States, to decide what 
was to be done. 

We -have stated the existence and the contents of the MS. from a respect for 
the truth. We have contributed to the circulation of an error, and we seize 
the first opportunity we can to correct it. — Besides, it is due to the people, and 
especially to the politicians of South Carolina, to send the facts forth. 

[It may be as well to remark, that in the continuation of the article which 
we have extracted from the Enquirer, the Editor states, that he is himself no- 
nullifier, notwithstanding the authority of Mr Jefferson. — Editor Eve. Post.'] 

From the United States Telegraph. 
IMPORTANT DOCUMENT. 

We have been permitted to lay before our readers th* following itnportant 
extract from a letter written to X\i% li*ll- Warren R, .©avis, by Mr Jefferson'e 
grandson and executor s 



61 

Richmond, March 8, 1834. 
Dear Sir: Last spring:, when T had the pleasure of meeting you hi Washing! 
ton, vou enquired of me if 1 had any evidence in my possession which would 
show whether Mr Jefferson was, or was not, the author of the resolution? offer- 
ed by Mr Breckenridge in the Kv. Legislature in '98. I have examinee! and 
compared the MSS. in my possession with both the resolutions offered by Ni- 
cholasand Bieckenridge : the first I find almost verbatim, as far as they go; 
thesectmd, in part the ideas, but not the language. The JVjS. contains nine 
resolutions. Nicholas adopted seven entire, and part of the eighth.' TJi eek- 
enridge took the Ideas in part of the omitted resolutions. I send you that 
omitted by Nicholas, you can best determine how far it concurs with B's. 
Resolution ei»ht. alter the word, 4k no man or body of men on eartl ," adcl, 
DNat in cases of the abuse of the delegated power, the members of the Gen- 



natural right in cases not witnin the compact, [casus nonja?iu j risj to nuihtv,ol 
their own authority, a!! assumptions of power by others v. itl.in their lin . s$ 
that, without this right, they will be under the dominion, absolute and unlimit- 
ed, of whomsoever might exercise this right of judgment for tl.em : that never- 
theless this Common wealth, from motives of regard -and respect for its Co- 
States, has wished to communicate with them on the stibjec' : that with tl.em 
alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and 
solely authorized to judge in the last resort . m! the power exercised under it. 
Congress being not a parts, but merely the creature of the Compact, and sub- 
jec*, as to its assumptions of power, to the final judgment of those by whom a 
and for whose use, itself and its powers were all created and modified." 

Again, towards the conclusion oj the same resolution, after the tfords. "and 
will each," add, « take measures of its own. for providing that neither these 
acts, nor any others of the Genera! Government, not plainly and intentionally 
authorized by the constitution, snail be exercised within their respective terri- 
tories. *' 

'» 9. Resolved, That the said Committee be authorized to communicate by 
writing or personal conference, at any time or place whatever, with ao> j er- 
son or persons who may be appointed by any one Or more of the Co-States, to 
correspond or confer with them: and that they lay their proceedings before the 
next session of Assembly. " 

The above will give the whole of the MSS. omitted in the first Kentucky 
resolutions. — The variations in those resolutions are merely <-ueh as would oc- 
cur in copying or printing. You will perceive the sentence containing the 
the word *' nullification, " nearly resembling an expression in the second reso- 
lution, and that many of the ideas are the same. 

Original Draught, in the Hand Vs ruing of Mr. Jefferson, of the 
Kentucky Resolutions of '98 and '99 
1. Resolved, That the several State* composing the United States of 
America, are not united on the principle ot the unlimited submission to the 
General Government; but that by a compact under the style and Title of a 
Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they con- 
stituted a Genera! Government for special purposes, de-legated to thai Governs 
men t certain definite powers* reserving each State to itself, the residuary 
ma^ of riy.hr to their own self-government ; and thai whensoever vhe General 
Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, 
ami of no force ; that to this compact, each Mate acceded as a S.nte, and is 
an integral party ; its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party : that the 
Government treated by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final 
ju l$*e ot the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since fha< would have, 
made irs discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers $■ 



but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common* 
judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself 5 as well of infractions 
as of the mode and measure of redress. 

2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States having delegated 
to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and cur- 
rent coin of the United States; piracies and felonies committed on the high 
seas, and offences against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever ; 
and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the 
Constitution having also declared, that " the powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 
served to the States respectively, or the people ;" therefore, the act of Con- 
gress passed on the 14th July, 1798, and entitled, " An act in addition to the 
act, entitled an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United 
States ;" as also the act passed by them on the day of June, 1798, en- 
titled 44 An act to punish frauds committed on the Bank of the United States ;" 
[and all other their acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes* 
other than those so enumerated in the Constitution,] are altogether void and 
of no force, and that the power to create, define and punish such other crimes 
is reserved, and of rights appertains solely and exclusively to the respective 
States, each within its own Territory. 

3. Resolved, That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly 
declated, by one of the amendments to the Constitution that the powers not 
delegated to the'U. States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
were reserved to the States respectively, or to the People ; and that no power 
over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being- 
delegated to the U. States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
al* lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to 
the States or the People: that thus was manifested their determination to retain 
.themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of 
the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how 
far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated, 
rather than the use be destroyed; and thus also they guarded against all 
abridgement by the United States, of the freedom of religious opinions and 
exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same: as this 
State, by a law passed on the general demand of its citizens, had already 
protected them from all human restraints or interference, and that in addition 
to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special 
provision -has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, 
which expressly declares that " Congress shall make no law respecting an 
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridg- 
ing the freedom of speech or of the press;" thereby guarding in the same 
sentence and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and 

• of the press; insomuch that whatever violates either, throws down the sanc- 
tuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, 
equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of 
.federal tribunals, that therefore the act of Congress of the United States* 
passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, entitled "An act in addition to an act, 
entitled an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United 
States," which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not law, but is alto : 
gether void and of no force. 

4. .Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protection 
of the law* of the State wherein they are; that no power over them has been 
delegated to the United States; nor prohibited to the individual States, dis- 
tinct from their power over citizens; and its being true as a general principle, 
and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that 
4i the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor pro- 
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the 
I>«ople,""tbe ac t of the Congress of the United States, passed on the day 



w 

of July, 1 7 98, entitled "An act concerning a^ens," which assumes powers 
over alien friends not delegated by the Constitution, is not law, but is alto- 
gether void and of no force. 

5. Resolved, That, in addition to the general principle, as well as the ex- 
press declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another and more 
special provision, inserted in the Constitution from abundant caution, has 
declared that "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the 
States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by 
the Congress prior to the year 1808;" that this commonwealth does admit 
the emigration of alien friends, described as the subjects of the said act con- 
cerning aliens; that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a pro- 
vision against all acts equivalent thereto, as it would be nugatory; that, to 
remove them when emigrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their migra- 
tion; and is, therefore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution and 
void. 

6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under the protection of 
the laws of this Commonwealth, on his failure to obey the simple order of the 
President to depart out of the United States, as is undertaken by the said 
act, entitled "An act concerning aliens," is contrary to the Constitution, one 
amendment of 'which has provided, that "no person shall be deprived of 
liberty without due process of law;" and that, another having provided that, 
44 in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a public 
trial by an impartial jury; to be informed of the nature and cause of the ac- 
cusation; to be confronted with die witnesses against- him; to have compulsory 
process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of 
counsel for his defence." The same act undertaking to authorize the Presi- 
dent of the United States to remove a person out of the United States who is 
under the protection of the law, on his owiv suspicion, without accusation, 
without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses 
against him, without hearing witnesses in his favor, without defence, without 
counsel, is contrary to these provisions,, also, of the Constitution; is, there- 
fore, no f law, but utterly void and of no force; that, transferring the power 
of judging any person, whois under the protection of the law, from the courts 
to the President of fh U. States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning 
aliens, is against the article of the Constitution, which provides that "the 
judicial power of the United States shall be vested in courts, the judges of 
which shall hold their offices during good behaviour;" and that the said act 
is void for that reason aUo; and it is further to be noted, that this transfer of 
judiciary power is to that magistrate of the General Government who already 
possesses all the executive, and a negative, on all the legislarive powers.. 

7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the general government, (as 
is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution 
of the United States, which delegate to Congress a power "to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the com- 
mon defence and general welfare of the United States, and to make all laws 
which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers 
vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any 
department or officer thereof," goes to the destruction of all the limits pre- 
scribed to their power by the Constitution; that words meant by that instru- 
ment to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be- 
so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken 
as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument; that the proceedings of 
the General Government under colour of these articles, will be a fit and 
necessary subject of revisal and correction, at a time of greater tranquillity, 
while those specified in the preceding resolutions call for immediate redress. 

8. Resolved* That a Committee of Conference and Correspondence be ap- 
pointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the preceding resolutions 
to the Legislature of the several States,* to assure them that this Commoa- 



64 

wealth continues in fh.9 same esteem for their friendship and union which it 
ha , n - * ' '■ • a • iii <ri • a 1 , it at which a common danger first Suggested 

a co u a m uui m; that it c >usulers union, for specified national purposes, and 
particularly tor those specified in their late federal compact, to be friendly to 



the peace, happme 
compacts accordih 



i, ia i prosperity of all the States; that faithful ro that 
to the plain intent and meaning in which it was under- 
stood and acceded to jj the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its pre- 
servation; that it does also believe that to take from the States all the powers 
of self-government, and transfer them to a general and consolidated goyerji- 
naent, without regard to the Special delegations and reservations solemnly 
agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness, or prosperity of 
tVese States; and that, there! ore, his Commonwealth is determined, as it 
doubts not its co-States a<-e, to submit Lo undelegated and consequently unli- 
tiiited powers in no man, or body of men, on earth; that in cases of an abuse 
of xiie delegated powers, the members of the Genera! Government being 
chosen by the people, a chaftgfc by the people would be the constitutional 
remedy; but where powers are assumed which have not been delegated* a nulli- 
fication of the act is the right remedy; that every State has a natural right, in 
cases not within the compact, [ea?us non foederis,] to nullify of their own au- 
thority all assumptions of power by others within (heir limits: that without 
their right they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of 
whatsoever might exercise this right of judgment for them; that, nevertheless, 
this commonwealth, from motives of regard and respect for its co states, has 
wished to communicate with them on the subject; that with them alone it is 
proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely 
authorized to judge in trie last resort of the powers exercised under it, Con- 
gress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject, 
as to its assumption of power, to the hnal judgment of those bv whom, and for 
whose use. itself and its powers were all created and modified; that, if the acts 
before specified should stand, these conclusions would How from them, that the 
General Government may place any act tiiey think proper on the list of primes, 
and punish it themselves, whether enumerated or not enumerated by The 
constitution as cognizable by them; that they may transfer its cognizance to 
the President, or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, counsel, 
judge, and jury, wjiose suspicions may be the evidence, his order the sentence, 
his officer the executioner, and his breast the sole record of the transactions; 
that a very numerous and valuable description ot the inhabitants of these 
States, being, by this precedent, reduced as outlaws to the absolute dominion 
of one man, and the barrier of the constitution thus swept away for us all, 
no rampart now remains against the passions and the power of a majority in 
Congress to protect from a like exportation, or other more grievous [JJnsh- 
ment, the minority of the same body, the Legislatures, judges, governors, and 
counsellors ot the States, nor their other peaceable inhabitants, who may ven- 
ture to reclaim the constitutional rights and liberties of the Spates and people, 
or who, for other causes, good or bad, may be obnoxious to the views, or 
marked by the suspicion of the President, or be thought dangerous to his or 
then- elections, or other interests, public or personal; that the friendless alien 
has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment, out the citi- 
zen will soon follow; rather, has already followed; for already has a sedition 
act marked him as its prey: that these and successive acts of the same 
character, unless arrested at the threshhold, necessarily drive these States 
into revolution and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against republican 
governments, and new pretexts for those who wish it to be believed 'hat man 
cannot be governed but by a rod of iron; that it would be a dangerou«> delu- 
sion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the 
safety of our rights: that confidence i« every where the paren of despotism. 
Free governmen is founded in jealousy and not in confidence; it is jealousy 
and not confidence winch prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those 



6& 

whom we are obliged to frus^ with powers that our constitution has accord- 
in gly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. And 
let the honest advocate »f confidence read the alien and Edition acts, and say 
if the constitution has not b *en wise in fixing limits to the government it cre- 
ated, and whether we should be wise in destroying those limits? Let him say 
what the government is, if it be not a tyranny, which the men of our choice 
have conferred on our president, and the president of our choice has assented 
to and accepted, over the friendly strangers to whom -the mild spirit of our 
country and its laws had pledged hospitality and protection; that the men of 
our choice have more respected the bate suspicions of the president, than the 
soli'l rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force of trutfe, 
and the forms and substance of law and justice; in questions of power, then, 
let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bin'! him down from mischief 
bv the chains of the constitution: that this commonwealth does, therefore, call 
on its co-states for an expression of their sentiments on the acts concerning 
aliens, and for the punishment of certain crimes hereinbefore specified; plainly 
declaring whether these acts are, or are not, authorized by the federal compact? 
And it doubts not that their sense will be so enounced as to prove their at- 
tachment unaltered to limited government, whether general or particular; 
and that the rights and liberties of their co-states will be exposed to no dangers 
by remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own; that they will 
concur with this Commonwealth in considering the said acts as so palpably 
against the constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that 
compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the general govern- 
ment; but that it will proceed in the exercise over these states, of all powers 
whatsoever; that they will view this as seizing the right* of the states, and 
consolidating them in the hands of the general government, with a power as- 
sumed to bind the states (not merely in the cases made federal, [casus fcederis~] ) 
but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by 
others againss their consent; that this would be to surrender the form of gov- 
ernment we have chosen, and to live under one deriving it powers from its own 
will, and not from our authority; and that the co-states recurring to their 
natural right, in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts 
void and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that 
neither these acts, nor any others of the general government, not plainly and 
intentionally authorized by the constitution, shall be exercised within their 
respective territories. 

9. Resolved, That the said committee be authorised to communicate, by- 
writing or personal conferences, at any times or places whatever, with any 
person or persons who may be appointed by any one or more of the co-states 
to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their proceedings before 
the next session of assembly. 

Richmond, March 21, 1832. 

I have carefully compared this copy with the MSS. of these resolutions in 
the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson, and find it a correct and full copy. 

TH. JEFFERSON RANDOLPH. 

Mr JEFFERSON'S OPINIONS. 

Extract of a letter from Mr Jefferson, to Major Cartwright, dated 

Monticello, June 5, 1824. 
"With respect to our state and federal governments, I do not think their 
relations correctly understood by foreigners. They generally suppo e the 
former subordinate to the latter. " But this is not the'ease. They are co-ordi- 
nate departments of one simple and integral whole. To the state governments 
are reserved ail legislation and administration, in affairs which concern their 
own citizens onlv, and to the federal government is given whatever concerns 
foreigners, or the citizens of other states; these functions alone being mad© 



66 

federal. The one is domestic, the other the foreign branch of the same gow 
eminent; neither having control over the other, but within its own depart- 
ment. There are one or two exceptions only to this partition of power. Rut, 
you may ask, if the two departments should claim each the same subject of 
power < where is the common umpire to decide ultimately between them? In 
cases of little importance or urgency, the prudence of both parties will keep 
them aloof from the questionable ground: but if it can neither be avoided nor 
compromised, a convention of the states must be called, to ascribe the 
doubtful power to that "department which they may think best. 

Extract of a Letter from Thomcas Jeffehsost, to Wilmax B. Giles, dated 26 December, 183$,- 
" Dear Sir — -I see as you do, with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides 
with which the Federal branch of our Government is advancing towards the- 
usurpation of all rights reserved to the States, and the consolidation in it- 
self of all powers foreign and domestic, and that too, by the construc- 
tions whieh if legitimate, leave no limits to their power. Take together the 
decisions of the Federal Court, the doctrines of the President, and the mis- 
constructions of the Constitutional compact acted on by the Legislature of 
the Federal branch ; and it is but too evident that the three ruling branches of 
that department, are in combination to strip their colleagues, the State au- 
thorities, of the powers reserved by them, and to exercise themselves, all- 
functions foreign and domestic Under the power to regulate commerce, 
to assume, indefinitely, that also over Agriculture and Manufactures ; and 
call \t regulation too, to take the earnings of one of these branches of industry, 
and that too, the most depressed, and put them into the pockets of the other, 
the most flourishing of all. Under the authority to establish Post Roads* they 
claim that of cutting down mountains for the construction of Roads, of digging 
Canals; and aided by a little sophistry on the words * general welfare,' a 
a right to do, not only the acts (to effect that) which are specifically enumerat- 
ed or permitted; but what soever they shall thinkor pretend will be for the gen- 
eral welfare. And weat is our resource for the preservation of the Constitu- 
tion ? Reason arul argument ! — You might as well reason and argue with the 
marble columns encircling them — The Representatives chosen by ourselves ? 
— They are joined in the combination* some from incorrect views of Govern- 
ment, some from corrupt ones, sufficient voting together, to outnumber the 
sound parts, and with majorities of only I, 2 or 3, bold enough to go forward: 

in defiance." 

PROTEST 

Prepared by Mr Jefferson for the Legislature of Virginia — December, 1825. 

The solemn declaration and protest of the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the 

jjrinciples of the Constitution of the United States of America, and on the 

violations of them. 

We, the General Assembly of Virginia, on behalf, and in the name of the 
people thereof, do declare as follows : 

The States in North America, which confederated to establish their inde- 
pendence on the Government of Great Britain, of which Virginia was one y 
became, on that acquisition, free and independent States, and as such, au- 
thorized to constitute Governments, each for itself, in such form as it thought 
best. 

Thev entered into a compact (which is called the Constitution of the Unit- 
ed States of America,) by which they agreed to unite in a single Government 
as to their relations with each other, and with foreign nations, and as to cer- 
tain other articles particularly specified. They retained at the same time, each 
to itself, the other rights of independent government, comprehending mainly 
their domestic interests. 

For the administration of their Federal branch, they agreed to appoint, in 
conjunction, a distinct set of functionaries, Legislative, Executive, and Judi- 



87 

ciary, in the manner settled in that compact : while to each, severally and of 
course, remained its original right of appointing, each for itself, a separate set 
of functionaries. Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, also, for administering 
the domestic branch of their respective Governments. 

These two sets of officers, each independent of the other., constitute thus a 
iahole of government, for each State separately; the powers ascribed to the 
one, as specificaliv made Federal, exercised over the whole, the residua- 
ry powers, retained to the other, exercisable exclusively over its particular 
States, foreign herein, each to the other^as they were before the original com- 
pact. 

To this construction of government and distribution of its power, the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia does religiously and affectionately adhere, opposing 
with equal fidelity and firmness., the usurpation of either set of functionaries 
on the rightful powers of the other. 

But the Federal branch has assumed in some cases, and claimed in others, a 
right of enlarging its own powers by constructions, inferences, aud indefinite 
deductions from those directly given, which this Assembly dues declare to be 
usurpations of the powers retained to the independent branches, mere inter- 
polations into the compact, and direct infractions on it. 

They claim, for example, and have commenced the exercise of a right to 
construct roads, open canals, and effect other internal improvements within 
the territories and jurisdictions exclusively belonging to the several States, 
which this Assembly does declare has not been given to that* branch by the 
constitutional compact, but remains to each State among its domestic and 
unalienated powers, exercisable within itself, and by its domestic authorities 
alone. 

This Assembly doesiurther disavow, and declare to be most false and un- 
founded, the doctrine, that the compact, in authorizing its Federal branch to 
lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises; to pay all debts and provide 
for the common defence and general welfare of the United States, has given 
them thereby a power to do whatever they may think, ov pretend, would pro- 
mote the general welfare; which construction would make that, of itself, a 
complete government, without limitation of powers; but that the plain sense 
and obvious meaning was, that they might levy the taxes necessary to provide 
for the general welfare, by the various acts of power therein specified and dele- 
gated to them, and by no others. 

Nor is it admitted, as has been said, that the people of these States, by not 
investing their Federal branch with all the means of bettering their condition, 
have denied to themselves any which may effect that purpose, since, in the dis<* 
tribution of t'-ese means, they have given to that branch those which belong to 
its departments, and to the States have reserved, separately, the residue which 
belong to them separately. And thus, by the organization of the two branches 
taken together, have completely secured the first object of human association, 
ihe full improvement of their condition, and reserved to themselves all the fac- 
ulties of multiplying their own blessings. 

Whilst the General Assembly thus declares the rights retained by the State, 
rights which they never have yielded, and which the State never will volunta- 
rily yield, they do not mean to raise the banner of disaffection, or of separation 
from their sister States, co-parties with themselves ru this compact. The* 
know and value too highly the blessings of their Union, as to foreign nations 
and questions arising among themselves. to consider everv infraction to be met 
by actual resistance. They respect too affectionately the opinions of those 
possessing the same tightsj under the same instrument, to make every differ- 
ence of construction a ground of immediate rupture. They would, 'indeed, 
consider such a rupture as among the greatest calamities "which eould befall 
them ; but not the greatest. There is yet one greater, submission to a Gov* 
ernment of unlimited powers c 



68 

Mxtract from the Speech of Judge Marshall^ in the House of Representatives 
of the United States* in the case of Jonathan Robhins* in the year 17T9. See 
Bee's reports (South Carolina.) p.p. 266 to 291, for the speech at length. 

tftT 'he gentleman from New York had relied on the second section of the 
third article oi' the Constitution, which enumerates the cases to which the 
judicial power of the United States extends, as expressly including that 
now, under consideration. Before he examined that section, i' would no be 
improper to notice a very material misstatement of it made in the resolutions 
offered by the gentleman from New York. By the constitution, the judicial 
power of the United States, is extended to all cases in laic and equity arising 
under the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States; but the resolu- 
tions declare the judicial power to extend to all questions arising under 
the Constitution, treaties and laws of the United States. The -difference be- 
tween the Constitution and the resolutions was material and apparent- A 
case in law or equity was a term well understood, and of limited significa ion. 
It was a controversy between parties* which had taKen a shape for judicial 
decision. If the judicial power extended to every question under the consti- 
tution, it would involve almost every subject proper for legislative discussion 
and decision; it to every question under the laws and treaties of the United 
States* it would involve almost every subject on which the executive could 
act. The division of power which the gentleman had stated could cxi*t no 
longer, and the other departments would be swallowed Up by the judiciary. 
But it was apparent that the resolutions had essentially misrepresented the 
Constitution He did not charge the gentleman from New York with inten- 
tional misrepresentation; he would not attribute to him such an artifice in any 
case, much less in a case where detection was so easy and so certain. Yefc 
this substantial departure from the Constitution, in resolutions effecting sub- 
stantially to recite it, was not less worthy of remark for being unintentional. 
It manifested the course of reasoning by which the gentleman had himself been 
misled, and his judgment betrayed into the opinions those resolutions ex- 
pressed. 

By extending the judicial power to all cases in law and equity* the contitu- 
tion had never been understood to confer on the department ant political 
power whatever. To come within this description, a question must assume 
a legal form for forensic litigation and judicial decision. There must be 
parties to conic into court* who can be reached by its process and bound by Us 
power; whose rights admit of ultimate decision by a tribunal to which they 
are bound to submit. 

A case in law or equity proper judicial decision ma}' arise under a treaty, 
where the rights of individuals acquired or secured by a treaty are to be as- 
serted or defended in court. As under the fourth or sixth article of the treaty 
of peace, with Great Britain* or under those articles of our late treaties with 
France* Bussia. and other nations, which secure to the subjects of those na- 
tions their property within the United States; or, as would be an article 
which, instead of stipulating to deliver up an offender, should stipulate his 
punishment, provided the case was punishable by the laws and in the lOtirts 
of the United States. Bur the judicial power cannot extend to political com- 
prfcts* as the establishment of the boundary line between the American and 
British Dominions ; the case of the hue guarantee in our treaty with France; 
or the case of the delivery of a murderer under the twenty -seventh article of 
our present treaty with Britain." 

STATE INTERPOSITION. 

Extract from the Protest of South, Carolina* dated Dec. 19, 1828. 

41 Under the operation of this supreme confroliug power, to whose interpo- 
sition no one can object, all controversy between the States and General Gov- 



69 

v^rnmsni. Would be thus adjusted, and the constitution would gradually acquire* 
by its constant interposition in important cases, all the perfection of whicK. 
the work of meujs susceptible. It is thus that the creative will become ths 
preserving: power; and we may rest assured, that it is no less true in politics 
in divinity, that the power which creates can alone preserve, and that 
preservation is perpetual creation." Such will be the operation of the veto of 
1 the Stare. 

On the' exercise of this power, the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Vice President, in 
his expose, makes there reflections: 

4 * 1 do not deny that a power of so high a nature, may be abused by a 
State; but when 1 reflect, that the States unanimously called the general Go- 
| vernment into existence with all of its powers, which they freely surrendered 
. on their part, under the conviction that their common peace, safety, and pros- 
I perity required it, that they are bound together by a common origin, and the 
■ recollection of common guttering and a common triumph in the great and 
Vplendid achievement of their independence; and that the strongest feelings of 
liir nature, and among; then* the love of national power and distinction, are cm 
fthe side of the Union; it does seem to me, that the fear which would strip the 
f States of •heir sovereignty, and degrade them, in fact, to mere dependent 
corporations, I should -abuse a right indispensable to the peaceable pro- 

j> tection Of those interests, which they reserved under their own peculiar guardi- 
anship when they created r he General Government, is unnatural and unrea- 
' sonable. If those who voluntarily created the system cannot be trusted to, 
preserve it, what power can?" 

NULLIFICATION, ORIGIN OF THE TERM. 

Kentucky Resolutions of 1799. — 4i That the principle and construction con- 
tended forjby sundry of the State Legislatures, that the General Government 
isthe exclusive judge of the extent oi* the powers delegated to it, stop nothing 
short of despotism, «ince the discretion of those who administer the Govern- 
ment, and not the, constitution, would be the measure of the. r powers. 

."That the several States who formed that instrument, being sovereign and 
independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction, and that 
XLLIFICATION ou those sovereignities of ail unauthorised acts done wil- 
der the color of thai instrument, is the rightful remedy ." 

OPINION OF CHIEF JUSTICE 1ILGIIMAN OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE MEMORABLE 

CASE OF OJLMSTEAl). 

The Chief Justice thus px; II — 

" The counsel of Olmsteiid ha^ ght forward a preliminary question, 

whether i have a right to discharge the prisoner, even if i should Oe clearly of 
opinion that the District Court had no jurisdiction, i am aware ot the mag- 
nitude of this question, and have given it the consideration it deserves. My 
opinion is, with great deference to those who Tmu -'entertain different senti- 
ments, that in the case supposed 1 should have a id if would be my 
duty to discharge the prisoner Tins right flows t'rotn th '<r Feder- 
al Constitution, which leaves to th** several ie supremacy m all 
cases in which it is not yielded to the United States, Ti >ears 
from the general scope and spirit of th The United States 1l ve 
no power, legislative or judicial excef ■; derived from the Constitution. 
When these powers are clearly exceeded, the ?nce ot tiie States, and 
the peace of the Union demand that the State C mid, in case- brought 
properly before them, give redress. There is no law which forbids it; their o«th 
of office exacts it — and if they do not, what course is to be taken? We must 
be reduced to the miserable^ xtremity of opposing force to fi^ce, and arraying 
citizen against citizen, for it is vain toe,X} the States will submit to 
manifest and flagrant i?svrpati©ns of power bv the United States, if (which :■ 
10 " / U 



"70 

&od forbid) thoy ever attempt them. If Congress should pass a Ml of $1* 
tainer, or lay a tax or duty on articles exported from any Stale, (from both 
whuh powers they are expressly excluded) such laws would be null a. id void, 
and all persons who acted under them, would be subject to actions in the State 
Courts. If a court of the United States should enter a judgment against a 
State which refused to appear in an action brought against it by a citizen of 
aooiherstate, or by a foreign state, such judgment -would be void, and all per* 
sons who act under it would be trespassers. " These cases appear so plain that 
they vyill h rdly be disputed, it is only in considering doubtful cases that 
our minds feel a difficulty in deciding.. But, if in ihe plainest case which can 
be considered, the slate courts may declare ajudgmeut,.[of the U. S. Courts^ 
to be void> the principle is established." 

AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL L\W IS NULL AND VOID. 

In the 78'h number of (he "Federalist," it is laid down, that — " there is no 
position which ifepends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delega-r ; 
ted authorit) contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exer-\ 
eised, is void. N.i ie^i I live act, therefore, contrary; to the constitution, can 
be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than hit 
principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the 
people are superior to the people themselves; that men, acting by virtue of 
powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they 
forbid." 

CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL, 

Says (in Marberry and Madison) *• That the Constitution is the fundamental 
and paramount iaw of the nation, and all acts repugnant to it are void." 

80 said Thomas Jefterson — and so have said every court before whom the 
question has been brought in the United States. 

But who are to judge? Answer — the *• several states" 

THE SUPREME COURT, NOT THE FINAL ARBITERS. 

Madison's Report, speaking in reference to this subject, says — ''It has 
been objected," (to the right of a state to interpose for. the protection of her 
■reserved rights) "that the judicial authority is to be regarded as the sole ex- 
positor of the constitution; on this objection it might be observed, first, that 
there may be instances of usurped powers, which the forms of the constitu- 
tion could never draw within the controul of the judicial department; second- 
ly, that if the decisions of the judiciary be raised above the sovereign parties 
to the constitution, the decisions of the other departments, not carried by the 
forms of the constitution before the Judiciary, must be equally authoritative 
and final with the decision of that department*. But the proper answer to the 
objection is, that the resolution of the General Assembly relates to those 
great and extraordinary cases, in which all of the forms of the constitution 
may prove ineffectual against infractions dangerous to the essential rights of 
the parties to it. The resolution supposes that dangerous powers, not delega- 
ted, may not only be usurped and exercised by other departments, but that the 
judicial department may also exercise, or sanction, dangerous powers beyond 
the grant of the constitution, and consequently that the ultimate right of the 
parties to the constitution to judge whether the compact has been dangerous- 
ly violated, must extend to violations by one delegated authority*, as well as 
t>y another — by the judiciary, as well as by the executive or legislative." So 

MR JFFFEttSON, 

in answer to the author of a book printed in, Boston in 1821, says: — " You 
seem, in pages 84 and 148, to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of 
all constitutional questions; averj dangerous doctrine indeed* and one which 
would place us under the despotism of an Oligarchy. Our judges are as honest 
as other men, and not more so. They have wnh others the same passions for 
• •>, tor power, and the privileges of their corps. Their maxim is, boniju- 
ce * *s£ amjtiiarc jurisdictionem, arid tiieir power is the more dangerous as 



11 

tfcey are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries a&~ 
to the elective control." 

So in his letter to judge Johnson, in answer to the argument — " That there 
must be an arbiter somewhere" — Mr Jefferson says "true; but this does that 
pr:ve it must be in either party. . The ultimate arbiter i* the people assembled 
hy their deputies in convention, . Let them decide to which they mean to give 
an authority claimed by two of their agencies." 

And ' again :—'• With respect to our state and federal governments (sayft 
Thomas Jefferson) I do not think their relation* are correctly understood by 
foreigners. . They suppose the former subordinate to the latter. This is not 
the case. They are co-ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole. 
But you may ask of the two departments should claim each the same sub- 
ject of power, where is the umpire to decide between them? In cases of little 
urgency or importance, the prudence of both parties will feeep them aloof 
from the questionable ground; but if it can neither be avoided nor comprom- 
ised, a convention of the states must be called to ascribe the doubtful power 

that department which they may think best." 



to 



t 



CHIEF JUSTICE MCKEAn's OPINION. 

Decision of "the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania i;« December, 1798, in the 
case of ' ; The Commonwealth vs. Cobbett," unanimously refusing to permit 
the Defendant, who was an alien, to remove his case into the Federal Court, 
notwithstanding the positive provisions of the l£th section of the United States 
Judicial Act. 

The unanimous opinion of the Court was delivered by Chief Justice McKean, 
and contains these words — (s e 3 Dallas. 473 ) — "-The divisions of power be- 
tween the National, or Federal, and State Governments, (all derived from the 
Same source, the Authority of the People,) must be collected from the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. Before it was adopted, the several States had absolute 
and unlimited Sovereignty within their respective boundaries; all the powers^ 
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, excepting, those granted to Congress un- 
der the old Constitution They note enjoy them aUj excepting such as are 
granted to the Government of the United Srates by the present instrument, 
and the adopted Amendments, which are for particular purposes only. The 
Government of the United States forms a part of the Government of each 
State — its jurisdiction extends to the providing for the common defence against 
exterior injuiies and violence^ .the regulation of Commerce, and other matters 
specially enumerated in the Constitution. — All other powers remain in the indi* 
vidual States, comprehending the interior and other concerns. These com- 
bined form one complete Government Should there be any defect in this 
form of Government*— or any collision occur — it cannot be remedied by the 
sole Act of the Congress, or of a State. The people must be resorted to for 
enlargement or modification. If a State should differ with the United States 
about the construction of them, there is no common umpire but the people, who 
should make amendments in the constitutional wav, or suffer from the defect 
fin the Constitution.] In such a case, the Constitution of the United States is 
Federal,. It is a league ok treaty made by the individual States, as 
one party, and all the States, as another party. When two nations differ 
about the meaning of any clause, sentence, or word in a Treaty,, neither has 
&n exclusive right to decide. But if it cnn»ot be thus accomplished, each has a 
rig >t to retain its own interpretation, until a reference be haa to the mediation 
f)f other Nations,, an Arbitration, or the fate of war. There is no provision 
in the Constitution, that in such a case the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
the United Spates shall cowtro/ and be conclusive — neither can the Congressby 
a law co nfer -that power. There appears to be a defect in this matter. It is a. 
casus omissus, which ought in some way to be remedied. Perhaps the Vice 
President and Senate of the Untied States — or Commissioners appointed, say 
one by each State, would be a more proper Tribunal than the Supreme Court. 
Be that as it may— I rather think the remedv must be found in an amendment 
tff the Constitution." 



'7« 

The Court then proceeded to over-rule the motion on the ground that the 
Sovereign .State of .Pennsylvania could not, on aecou.tof its 'dignitj be carried 
before the Federal Court. 

This case added another laurel wreath to the. unfading chaplet of the Repub- - 
licanisin of*'98 — that glorious era of tne vindication of the insulted Constitu- F 
tion and the restoration , of the outraged sovereignty of the States. 

The above case is thus cited and remarked upon* by the distinguished Judge f 
Roane, of Virginia, in the case of Hunter & Martin* — ( Dallas, 52 ) 

<< in the case of the Commonwealth vs. Cobbet, the Supreme Court of the 
State of Pennsylvania, solemnly and unanimously refused to permit the defen- 
dant, who was an alien, to remove a cause in which he was sued by the State, | 
in its Supreme Court, into the Circuit Court of the United States, notwith* 
standing the comprehensiveness of the words of the twelfth section, of the ju- 1 
cHcial act, upon this subject. The Court, after declaring, in the most explicit J 
terms, that all powers riot granted to the Government of the United States, re- > 
wained with the several States; that the Federal Government uas a league,/ 
or treaty, made by the individual States, as one party, and all the States, agf 
another; that when two nations differ, about the construction of a league, oR 
treaty existing between them, neither has the exclusive right to decide it ; and; 
that, if one of the States should differ with the United States, as to the extent 
of the grant made to them, there is do common umpire between them, but the I 
people, by an amendment of the Constitution; went on to declare its own 
opinion on the subject, and overruled the motion, on the ground that the sove- I 
reign State of Pennsylvania could not, on account of its dignity, be carried 
before that Cou;t. 

4 »One of the appellee's counsel was pleased to call this decision a dictum' of 
Chief Justice McKeaft-& I must be excused for saying it is no dictum, nor is it 
the sole and individual opinion of tha respectable Judge. It is the solemn and 
unanimous decision, and resolution, of the Supreme Court, of one of the iAo&t 
respectable States of the Union. It contains no principle which every friend 
to 'the federative system of Government will not readily subscribe to : it exhi- 
bits no sentiment alarming to any, but the friends of consolidation." 

MAJORITY A it MINORITY. 

Extracts from an article hi the Southern review -rathe Georgia controversy, 
t£ A law has recently be i passed imposing duties on imports &c. In judg- 
ing of the validity of this law, the question i- v\ hither a powei to regulate cora- 
ihe.rce, sanctions the passing ol an, act, imposing Hu ties to ..exclude foreign 
imports for the encouragement of American manufacture*? or in other words 
a law excusively for the regulation of manufactures, is a law, far the regulation 
of commerce. The statement of this question would seem to '"involve the ans- 
wer. Can a power intended for one object authorized by the constitution, be 
applied to another which is n>t authorized? If it can, the constitution is un- 
limited in its action, and our citizens live under despotism, not the more 
grateful for having been created by themselves. " 

Again J— -r" That the decision of a majority of Congress, is to exclude' the 
interference both of the states and of the people is a position s>> glaringly in- 
consistent with every notion oi.a republican government, that we shall otter a 
few remarks upon i ; . In the ordinary and regular administration of a 
Affairs, the anser >ion i :< f (he ri«*ht of a m 'tjority to bind Hie people is a mere 
jjjxusim; but a majority as well as a minority may be a faction, and where the 
executive or the legislature, is accused of oppression or corruption, to contend 
that the will of a prevailing majority should alone be evidence of the legality 
of their proceeding, would render hopeless all possibility of relief. That ma- 
jority might pass laws perpetrating its own power and subverting every prin- 
ciple of freedom and of the constitution. We sh^ll not formally endeavor to 
confute a proposition deduc-d from the slavish doctrines of passive obedience 
and non-resistance, but we cannot refrain from expressing our surprise that it 



73 

should have found open supporters in the United States. Equally destructive 
ot the stability of our institutions is the contrary opinion that a dissolution 
of the Union ought to be thn necessary consequence of every usurpation of 
power by the Federal Government." ' 

And a°ain: — " In the execution of this law [the Tariff'] no one can ex- 
ceed us. We think that a tax which excludes importations from the natural 
and accustomed purchases of the staples of the southern states reduces the ex- 
changeable value of their exports, and it is as substantially a tax upon them, 
as if they were directly subjected to it: that a tax upon importations not laid 
for revenue, &c. is partial, oppressive, and unconstitutional." 

OPINIONS of the Venerable Gen. Sumpter,' of South Carolina, the only 
Gener \ Officer of the Revolution now alive, familiar) known during that war, as the game cock 

OF THE SOUTH. 

Extract from a letter to his grandson, dated 23d Jug. 1831. "In this coun- 
try Republicanism in its true sense, was intended to mean and did mean, that 

Lits possessors had both the right and will to resist effectually unauthorized 

Ipower, which in every shape means usurpation. 

"If any of the present generation, have forgotten this wholesome truth, lei 
them, before they attempt to seduce or terrify me, read carefully the Declara- 
tion ot Independence; the Debates on the Ratification of the Federal Consti- 
tution; the Constitution itself and its amendments, (without which it could 
not have existed five years,) the yirginia and Kentucky Resolutions, adopted 
in the reign of terror; the proceeding* and protest of their own and other Le- 
gislatures on the fraudulent Tariff of 1828; and last, because latent, rhv expo- 
sition just offered them by the second officer of the General Government, of 
the principles, the policy, the powers, and the limitations ascribed in the Con- 
stitution to the Federal authority, as distinguished from the residuary rights 
and powers retained by the State authorities of the same government, when 
they formed the Constitution, out of the old Confederacy — after reading suclj. 
lessons as these, -no Carolinian will attempt to seduce or press any one into 
ranks of consolidation and submission. 

Extract of another letter, dated 22d Oct. 18S0 — -" I hope there is still a -.de- 
mocracy in evtry state — a democracy characterised by its just conception 
of liberty, and by its phiianthrophv— it will hearken to the call of the 
people of South Carolina, a>d join in protesting against the unlawful and un- 
just acts of government. Some remedy must be resorted to, or else from the 
position our State has assumed, her citizens will become objects of contempt 
and derision, and never will she resume that rank and weight in the Union, 
for the maintenance of which even her present political existence should be 
sacrificed. 

"Unfortunately our people are not united. Many, though they admit the 
unconstitutionally ot certain acts of Congress, yet because they do not feel 
their operation, are determined to wait until they do— but when these feel, it 
will then be too late. — It is a hard matter to enslave a free people, but such a 
people once enslaved, will hardly regain their liberty. 

"It is not my intention either to exaggerate the misfortunes of our State 
or praise its resignation in supporting them. This resignation would be afire 
necessity, if the evil was inevitable; but if the evil can be avoided, it will be 
alike destitute of courage and dignity." 

Dr. Franklin on Free Trade, and Dr. Charming on the Union* 

DR. FRANKLIN ON FREE TRADE. 

"Perhaps, in general, it would be better if government meddled no further 
with trade, than to protect it, and let it take ita course. — Most of the statues 
or acts, edicts, arrets, and placarts of Parliaments, Princes, arid States, for 
regulating or restraining of trade, have, we think, been either political blun- 
ders, or jobs obtained by artful men tor private advantage, under pretence of 
public good. When Colbert assembled some wise old merchants of France^ 



n 

and desired their advice and opinion how he could best serve and promote- 
commerce? their answer, after consultation, was in throe words only. *'Lais- 
sez nous faire — Let us alone.'* It is said by a very solid writer of th* j same 
nation, that he is well advanced in the science of politics, who knows the full 
force of that maxim, "Pas trop gouverner. — Not govern too much," which 
perhaps would be of more use when applied to trade, than in any other public | 
concern. It were therefore to be wished that commerce were as free between 
all nationsof the world, a* it is between the several counts of England ; so 
would all by mutual communication obtain more enjoyments. Those counties 
do not ruin each other by trade, neither would the nations. No nation was 
ever ruined by trade even seemingly the most dij-advantageousi Wherever 
desirable superfluities ate imported* industry is excited, and thereby plenty- 
is produced." 

EXTRACTS FROM DR. CHANNING ON THE UNION, 

<; We should rejoice if by some great improvement in finance, every custom- 
house could be shut from Maine to Louisiana. The interest of human nature 
requires that every fetter should be broken from the intercourse of nations* 
that the most distant countries should exchange all their products, whether on* 
manual or intellectual labour* as freely as members of the same community. 
An unrestricted commerce we regard as the most important means of diffu- 
sing through the world knowledge, arts, comforts* civilization, religion and 
liberty: and to this great cause we would have our country devoted. We will 
add that we attach no importance to what is deemed the chief benefit of 
tariffs, that they save the necessity of direct taxation, and draw from the peo- 
ple a large revenue without their knowledge* In the first place we say that 
a fn*e people ought to know what they have to pay for freedom, and to pay it 
joyfully ; and that they should as truly scorn to be cheated into the support of 
their government, as into the support of their children, (n the next place a 
lai o-e revenue is no blessing. An overflowing treasury wijl always be corrupt- 
ing to the governors and the governed. A revenue rigorously proportioned te 
to the wants of a people, is as much as can be trusted safely to men in power, 
The only valid argument against substituting direct for indirect taxation, is 
the difficulty of ascertaining with precision the property of the citizen. Hap- 
py would it be for us could tariffs be done away! — for with them would be 
abolished fruitful causes of national jealousies, of war, of perjury, of wrang- 
ling, of innumerable frauds and crimes, and of harrassing restraints on that 
commerce which should be as free as the wind." — [Published in the Christum 
Examiner and General Review for May, 1829.] 

STATE RIGHTS. — Resolutions of certain States in relation thereto* . 

PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE. 

House of Representatives, March 1, 1809. 

Report on the Governor's Message relative to the Mandamus of the Supreme Court of the Unk- 
ed Stales, in the case of Gideon OJmstead. 

The committee to whom was referred the message of the Governor of the 
27th February—import, 

That the subject referred to them, has not failed to engage their most seri- 
ous reflection. They have viewed it in every point of light in which it could 
be considered. It is by no means a matter of indifference. In whatever vvay 
the legislature may decide, it will be in the highest degree important. We 
may purchase peace hy a surrender of right* or exhibit to the present times, 
and to late posterity, an awful lesson in the conflicts to preserve it., It be- 
comes a sacred duty we. owe to our common country, to discard pusillanimity 
on the one hand, and rashness on the other. In either case we shall furnish 
materials for history; and future times must judge of our wisdom, or our veak- 
ness. Ancient history furnishes no parallel to the Constitution of this Unit- 
ed Republic. An<i should this great experiment fail, vain may be every ef- 
fort to establish rational liberty. The spirit of the times give* birth to jeul* 



"75 

&liay cf power; it is interwoven in our system, ami is, perhaps, essential to 
perfect freedom and the rights of mankind. But this jealousy urged to the 
extreme, may eventually destroy even liberty itseif. As connected witJl the 
I Federal* system, the State Governments, with their inherent rights, must, at ev- 
ery hazard, be preserved entire; otherwise the General Government may as- 
sume a character, never contemplated by its framers, which may change its 
whole nature." 

The Committee then proceed to give a detailed and minute account of all 
the facts and circumstances from the commencement of Olmstead's case, until 
they come to the resolution of Congress sustaining the jurisdiction of the Unit- 
ed States Admiralty Court of Appeals, upon which they make the following 
^observations: 

*<But it had no effect upon Pennsylvania, tenacious of her own rights resting 
upon her own laws, and understanding, as well as any other State, the extent 
oj the power of Congress, and the authority she had consented to vest in that 
body. Committees were appointed to confer with a Committee of Congress, but 
Jlvery conference was ineffectual : and on the 31st January, 1780, by an unani- 
mous voice of the General Assembly, the following decisive instructions were 
transmitted to the Pennsylvania delegation in Congress: 

'• it is the proper business, and the strict right of juries to establish facts; 
yet the Court of Appeals took upon them to Violate this essential part of jury 
trial and to reduce in effect this mode of jurisprudence to the course of the 
/Cavil iaw; a proceeding to which the State of Pennsylvania cannot yield." 

"Although the Committee, in common with every member of the House re* 
i Terence the Constitution of the United States, and its lawful authorities, yet 
there is a respect due to the solemn and public acts, and to the honor and dig- 
nity of our own State, and the unvarying assertion of her right for a period of 
thirty years Your Committee therefore offer the following resolutions : 

'■ Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, <$*c. That as a member of the Federal Union, the Legisla- 
ture of Pennsylvania acknowledges the supremacy, and will cheerfully sub- 
mit to the authority, of the General Government, as far as that authority in 
delegated by the Constitution of the United States. But. whilst i\"?y yiAd 
to this authority, when exercised within Constitutional lim^s, they 
{rust they will not be considered as acting hostile to the Genera*, Jowovern- 
ment, when, as guardians of State rights, they cannot permit an /.v- 
fringement of those rights, by an unconstitutional exercise of power in 
the United States Courts. 

"Resolved, That in a Government like that of the United States, where 
there are powers granted to the General Government, and rights reserved to 
the States, it is impossible, from the imperfection of language, so to define the 
limits of each, that difficulties should not sometimes arisefrom a collision of 
powers; and it is to be lamented that no provision is made in the Constitution, 
for determining disputes between the General and State Governments. by an im- 
partial tribunal, when such cases occur. 

" Resolved* That from the construction the United State' Courts give to 

their powers, the harmony of the States, if they resist encroachments on their 

rights, will frequently be interrupted : and if.to prevent this evil, they should, 

;<m all occasions, yield to stretches of power, the reserved rights of the States 

•will depend on the arbitrary power of the Courts, 

" Resolved, That, should the independence of the States, as secured by the 
Constitution, be destroyed, the liberties of the people, in so extensive a coun- 
try, cannot long survive. To suffer the United States Courts to decide oa 
State rights, will, from a bias in favor of power, necessarily destroy the fede- 
ral part of our Government; and whenever the Government of the United 
States becomes consolidated, we may learn, train the history ©['nations, what 
will be the event ! ' 



4 



6 



PENNSYLVANIA.— Resolutions adopted by Legislature in Utl, on fhe Bank of the IT. StatUSS 
The ppople of jhe United States by the adoption of the Federal Constitution, established a 
General Government for special purposes, reserving to themselves, <*espectively, the rights and, 
authorities not delegated in that instrument. To the compact thereby created, each state uec 
in its character as a state, and is a party; the United States forming, as tn it, the other party. The 
act of Union, thus entered into, being, to all intents and purposes, a treaty between sovereign 
States. The General Government, by this treaty, was not constituted the exclusive or fina-f j 
of the powers it was to exercise: for if it were so to judge, then its judgment, and not the consti- 
tution, would be the measure of its authority, 

Should the General Government, in any of its departments, violate the provisions of the Con* 
stitution, it rests with the States, and with the people, to apply suitable remedies. 

VIRGINIA, 

Report and Resolutions, adopted February 20, in *?eply to Resolutions of Georgia and South 

Carolina in IS2-S." 

In conformity with arrangements previously understood, the distinct and independent States 
of America assembled in General Convention at Philadelphia, and in their sovereign, corporate 
characters, proceeded to consider the nature of the Compact, which it might be deemed wise to 
establish among themselves. All the proceedings which were then had, were despatched in their 
oters of so7}°re!?n States, and a Government was instituted, not sustained by the sanction of 
a majority of the people of America, but by the sanctions of the people of the several Stm 
The plan "of Government then established, was conformable to suggestions heretofore mad''. — • 
"Kae.h of the sovereignties then assembled, determined to cede to the Federal Government certain 
portions of its sovereignty, reserving- the residue unimpaired. In the cessions which were made, 
the Government was enabled to concentrate the whole strength nf the Union, for the assertion 
and vindication of our national lights , It was invested with sufficient power to traoquilize distur- 
bances among the States; together with a general jurisdiction, over such matters of general con- 
cerns as involved the common interests of the 'States, but which Could not he wisely arranged, by 
the rival, partial, and conflicting legislation of the particular States, The jurisdiction over ail 
■ subjects was expressly reserved to the States respectively. \!1 subjects of a local native, 
the internal police bf the States, the jurisdiction over the soil* the definition and punishment of 
crime, the regulation of labor, and all subjects which could be advantageously disposed, by the 
authority of a particular State, were reserved to the jurisdiction of the State Governments. The 
im of this regulation will not he questioned: for, it surely must be sufficiently obvious, that 
Co subject our local or domestic affairs to any other authority than our own Legislature? would be 
to expose to certain destruction the happiness and prosperity of the people >f Virginia. This 
principle was accordingly established: — That all subjects of a general nature should be confided to 
the Federal Government, whilst those which were local in their character, were reserved for the 
jurisdiction of the States respectively. 

This distribution of political power having been established by the Constitution, the happi- 
ness and prosperity of the American people demand, that it should be preserved. The theory of 
government as established in A nerica, contemplates the Federal and State Governments as mil- 
, rks /m one another, consttainiug the various authorities to revolve within their proper and 
eonsVftutio "-1 spheres. Each Government is invested with supreme authority, in the exercise of 
its le< itiii » I functions, whilst the authority of either is wholly void, when exerted over a subject 
■Id fr. n i its jurisdiction. Should either depository of political power, unhappily be disposed 
to disregard 'he Constitution, ami destroy the proportions of our beautiful theory, it Revolves upon 
the other to interpose, as well from a regard to its own safety, as for the perpetual preservation 
of >ur political institutions. If there be a characteristic of the Federative system, peculiarly en- 
titled to our admiration, it is the security which is found for individual liberty in the separate en- 
ergies of distinct Governments, uniting and co-operating for the public good; but separating and 
conflicting, when the object is evils.'" 

"The reflections in which your committee have indulged constrain them to express their en- 
feigned regret that the Government of the United States, by extending its influence to Domestic 
Manufactures, has drawn within its authority a subject over which, it has no control, according to 
the terms of the Federal Compact; and that this influence lias been exerted after a manner, djke 
dangerous to the sovereignty of die States, and injurious to the rights of all other classes of Ameri- 
can citizens. 

Acting under the influence of these reflections, your committee have contemplated with deep- 
est interest the situation of the General Assembly, and the duties which devolve upon that body. 
They cannot suppress their solemn conviction, that the principles of the Constitution have been 
disregarded, and the just proportions of our political system disturbed and violated by the Gene- 
ral Government. The inviolable preservation of our political institutions is entrusted to the Ge- 
neral' Assembly of Virginia, in common with the Legislature's of the several States; and the sacred 
duty devolves upon them, of preserving these institutions .unimpaired. Yet, an anxious care for 
the harmony of the Srtites, and an earnest solicitude for the tranquility of the Union, have deter- 
mined your committee to recommend to the Genera' Assembly, to make duo 1 her solemn appea> to 
those with whom we unhappily differ: and that the feelings- of Virginia may be again distinctly* 
announced, they recommend the adoption of the following Resolutions: 

1. Resolved as the opinion of tnis Committee, That the Constitution of the 'United States, being 
a Federative Compact between sovereign State?, in construing which no common arbitrr is known 
each State has the right to construe the Compact for itself. 

2, Resolved, That in giving such construction, in the 'opinion of this Committee, each State 
should be guided, as Virginia has ever been, by a sense of forbearance and respect tor the opinion 
of the other States, and by community of attachment to the Union, so far as the same may he 



' 77 

consistent with self-preservation, and a determined purpose to preserve the purity of our Republi- 
can Institutions. 

3, Resolved, That this General Assembly of Virginia, actuattd by the desire of guarding the 
Constitution from all violation, anxious to preserve and perpetuate the Union, and to execute with 
fidelity the trust reposed in it by the people, as one of the Mgh contracting parties, feels itself 
bound to declare, and it hereby most solemnly declares, its deliberate conviction, that the Acts of 
Congress, usually denominated the Tariff Laws, passed avowedly for the protection of Domestic 
Manufactures, are not authorized by the plain construction, true intent and meaning of the Con» 
atitution. 

GEORGIA.— When the Resolutions of South Chrolina, of Dec, 1827, were transmitted to the 
other States, the Legislature of Georgia responded as follows : 

" The States, in forming the Constituiton, treated with each other as sovereign and independent 
governments, expressly acknowledging their rights of sovereignty, and inasmuch as they divested 
themselves of those rights only which were expressly delegated, it follows as a legitimate conse- 
quence, that they are still sovereign and independent as to all the powers not granted. 

The States respectively, therefore, have, in the opinion of your Committee, the unquestiona- 
ble right, in case of any infraction of the general compact, or want of good faith in the perform- 
ance of its obligations, to complain, remonstrate, and even to refuse obedience to any measure of 
the General Government manifestly against, and in violation of the Constitution; otherwise, the 
j Constitution might be violated with impunity and without redress, as often as the majority might 
dunk proper to transcend their powers, and the party injured bound to yield a submissive obe- 
dience to the measure, however unconstitutional. This would tend to annihilate all sovereignty 
and independence of the States, and to consolidate all power in the General Government, which 
never was designed nor intended by the framers of the Constitution. 

Resolved, That this legislature concur with the Legislature of South Carolina, in the Reso- 
lutions adopted at their -December session in 1827, in relation to the powers of the General Go- 
vernment and State Rights." 

SOUTH CAROLINA. 

We come now to the instances of the recognition of this Sovereign Right in South Carolina. 
And in considering these, we might, perhaps, with propriety, commence with the proceedings of 
this State, and its officers, in regard to the acts of 1820, '22, '23, &c. for the " prohibition of free 
negroes and persons of color from entering into this State," — which Acts the U. States Judge, 
Johnson, in the case of Elkinsen, viewed as violations of the United States Constitution and 
Treaties ; as did also the Attorney General of the United States, in the opinion which was given 
by him in May, 1 824, and which was remitted by the Federal Secretary of State, to the then Go- 
vernor, with a desire from the President, that the obnoxious lav/ should be repealed — to which 
request the Governor (Wilson) thus responded, in his Message to the Legislature:-^- 

" A firm determination to resist at the threshhold, every Invasion of our domestic tranquillity, 
and io preserve our sovereignty; and independence as a State, i* earnestly recommended. And 
if an appeal to the first principles of the right of se ent be disregarded, and reason be 

successfully combatted by sophistry and error, ther^ would be more glory informing a rampart 
with our bodies, on the confines of our territory, than to be the victims of successful rebellion, or 
the slaves of a great consolidated government." 

And the Senate of the State also responded as to these internal regulations of her domestic 
concerns, in the following memorabl< words : 

«'This duty is paramount to all Laws, all Treaties, all Constitutions . It arises from the su- 
preme and permanent law of nature — the law of self-preservation — and will never, by this State, 
be renounced, compromised, controlled, or participated with any power whatever. 

But although these State proceedings fully affirmed this soveteign right; yet we would prefer 
the selection of more distinct and marked examples — and for this purpose (passing over the Re- 
solutions of Judge Smith, in 1825, declaring the Tariff and Internal Improvement Systems 
"unconstitutional,") we come 

1st. To the Report of Dr. Ramsay's Committee, adopted in 1827, wherein are contained the 
following expressions : 

" But when Congress assumes to itself a power unknown to the Constitution, and thus encroach- 
es upon what is reserved to the States, here is an interference which goes to the destruction of 
the c impact itself, and of the parties to that compact. These parties, being the people of each 
different State, it not only is their right, but it becomes an high duti of their local Legislatures 
to interfere . " 

Again — " Each State having entered into the compact as a sovereign body, and not in conjunct 
lion with any other State, must judge for itself whether the compact has been broken or not." 

Again — "In stepping across the boundaries of power presented bv the Constitution, there are 
no degrees in the guilt of that Government which is the trespasser, whether the trespass be com- 
mitted by the State oi the Federal authorities. It is the intention which accompanies the act that 
constitutes the crime — and this intention is as much embodied into the guilt of usurpation, if one 
dollar be taken out of the pockets of our citizens to encourage a monopoly, as if Congress, by 
one " fell swoop," were to prostrate all the powers of the State Legislatures." 

Again — (i But in the opinion of your Committee, it is all important, that whatever is to be done 
by South Carolina, ought to be so done as to impress upon the minds of the Congress of the United 
States, that she does not at this conjuncture, approach the National Legislature as a suppliant or a 
tnemorialist, but as a sovereign and an Eq.uAt." 

2rf. By the Report, Resolutions, aud solemn Protest ot December, 1828, (the latter two of 
which are understood to have been drawn up by Mr. Hugh S. Legare.) The protest contains 
these words — 

11 



78 

A But feeling it to lie their bounden duty to expose and resist all encroachments upon the true 
spirit of the Constitution, lest an apparent acquiescence in the system of protecting duties should 
lie drawn into precedent, do, in the name of the Commonwealth of South Carolina, claim to en- 
ter upon the Journals 01 the Senale, their Protest against it, as unconstitutional, oppressive, and 
Unjust. " 

The Resolutions contain the following expressions : 

"This Legislature is restrained from the assertion of the Sovereign Rights of the State, by 
the hope that the magnanimity and justice of the good people of the Union will effect the aban- 
donment of a system partial in its nature, unjust in its operation, and not within the powers dele- 
gated to Congress. 

" Resolved, That the measures to be pursued consequent on the perseverance in this system, 
are purely questions of expediency and not of allegiance." 

And the Report of the Senate (adopted 36 to 6) contains these expressions— 

"The several States, South Carolina among the rest, have also their own distinct, reserved. 
Undelegated Rights, which it is equally their bounden duty to watch over and protect from all 
encroachment-— and this duty the State of South Carolina will not neglect-— but on all occasions, 
If need be, will faithfully to the utmost and at all hazards perform it." 

Again— "This American System hab been gradually imposed upon the Union by means and 
measures unjust and unauthorized. It admits of no defence on constitutional principles. The 
powers claimed and connected with it, are no where to be found in that Constitution. It erects <)4. 
the manufacturing States into a favored Aristocracy. It degrades and depresses the character, Ji 
the industry and the prosperity of every Agricultural State. It imposes burthens for which the 
South receives no equivalent. It renders us in fact, tributaries and laborers for the benefit of 
the manufacturing States." 

"Asrainst this state of things South Carolina has repeatedly remonstrated in vain — she has been 
contemned in her Sovereign capacity — her Rights have been tramphd upon — her Remonstrances 
lie neglected on the tables of Congress — her oppressions have been almost yearly increased — and 
no system of Redress has been held out to her hopes or her entreaties. 

It is impossible that this state of things should be long endured without decisive efforts at re- 
dress." 

" Resolved, That the Acts of Congress for the protection of Domestic Manufactures are uncon- 
stitutional and should be HEsrsTicn — and the other States are invited to co-operate with South 
Carolina in the measure of resistance to the same." 

3d. By the Resolutions of the Federal Committee of 1830 — which are in the following words: 

" Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of South Carolina doth unequivocally express a 
firm resolution to maintain and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution 
of this State against every agression, whether foreign or domestic, and that they will support the 
Government of the United States in all measures warranted by the former." — .Madison. 

" Resolved, That this Legislature doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the 
powers of the federal government, as resulting from the compact to which the States are parties, 
as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact; and in 
case of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the said com- 
pact, the States, who are parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound to interpose for 
arresting the progress of the evil, and for maintaining within their respective limits, the authori- 
ties, rights and liberties appertaining to them." — Madison. 

" Resolved, That the several States, comprising the United States of America, are not united 
on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but by compact, under the 
style and title of a Constitution of the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted 
a government for special purposes; delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserv- 
ing each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that when- 
soever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void and 
of no force. That to this compact each State acceded as a State and is an integral party. That 
the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent 
of the powers delegated to itself; since that would h ve made its discretion, and not the Consti- 
tution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in alf other cases of compact between parties 
having uo com non judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions 
as of the mode and measures of redness' — Jefferson. 

"Resolved, That the several Acts of the Congress of the United States imposing duties on 
imports for the protection of domestic manufactures, have been, and are, highly dangerous aud 
oppressive violations of the Constitutional Compact, and that whenever the States which are suf- 
fering uuder the oppression shall lose all reasonable h ope of redress from the wisdom and justice 
of the Federal Government, it will be their right and duty to interpose in their sovereigv ca- 
PACirr, for the purpose of arresting the progress of the evil occasioned by the said unconstitu- 
tional Acts." 

ALABA 1A. 

Resolution adopted by the Alabama Legislature, 1828. 
"Letit not again be said that because the South-west and South send ao agents to beset the 
members of Congress, and have forborne to petition and remonstrate in every village, or to call 
counter conventions, that they are so recreant to duty as to acquiesce in the proposed oppression, 
[the Tariff.] Oo the contrary, let it be distinctly understood that Alabama, in common with the 
Southern and South-western States, regards the power asssuwed bt the geveavl gove;it- 
MEXr 'to control her internal concerts, by protecting duties, beyond the fair demand for revewlb 
as a PALPABLE USURPATION of POWERS GIVEN BY THB CONSTITUTION. 



79 

NORTH CAROLINA. 

Memorial against the Tariff, adopted by the Legislature, and presented to Congress, Jan. 182S. \ 
*' It is conceded that Congress have the express power to lav imposts, but it is maintained that * 
that power was given for the purpose of Revenue — and Revenue alone, and that every other 

USB OF THE POWER IS USURPATION ON THE PART OF CONGRESS." 

_____ t 

MISSISSIPPI.— Resolutions adopted, February, 1830. 
" Resolved, That the State of Mississippi concur with the States of Georgia, South 
Carolina, and Virginia, in their different resolutions [above quoted", upon the subjectb 
of the Tariff, Colonization Society, and Internal Improvements." 

N. B. It is understood that Tennessee has adopted similar resolutions in relation to the Tariff 

and Internal Improvements. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 
Feb. 9, 1830. Resolution of the Massachusetts Legislature, declaring the late Treaty with Great 
Britain, relative to the North-eastern boundary " nidi and void." 
Resolved, That the adoption of the said line, so recommended by the King of the Nether- 
lands, as a part of the north-eastern boundary of the United States, would deprive this Common- 
wealth and the State of Maine of large tracts of territory, which, upon any imaginable result of 
such survey of the northern and eastern boundaries, as is authorized by the fifth article of the . 
treaty of Ghent, belong respectively, in sovereignty and property, to the said State and the said \ 

•Commonwealth. 
' Resolved, That the Government of the United States has no constitutional right to cede any 
portion of the territory of the States composing the Union, to any foreign power, or to deprive 
any State of any land, or other property, without the consent of such State, previously obtained; 
•f the States of Massachusetts and Maine, would be a violation of the rights of jurisdiction and 
property, belonging respectively to the said States, and secured to them by the Federal Constitu- 
lion ; and that any act, purporting to have such effect, would be wholly null and void, and its 
no way OBLiGAToavupon the government or people of eit her of the said States. 

Resolved, That, as the adoption, by the Government of the United States, of the aforesaid new 
boundary line, so recommended by the said King of the Netherlands, would deprive the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts of large tracts of land, without equivalent, it is not expedient for 
the said Commonwealth to give consent thereto ; and that the General Court hereby solemnly 
protest against such adoption, declaring that any act, purporting to hav- effect, will have been 
performed without the consent of the Common wealth, and in violation of the rights thereof, as 
secured by the Federal Constitution, and will be consequently null and void, and in no ways 
obligators upon the Government or people, ft . 

Resolved, That the General Court have received with satisfaction, the communication made to ^ 
them through his Excellency the Governor, from the Government of the State of Maine, of the 
proceedings of the said Government upon this subject ; that they reciprocate the friendly senti- 
ments, which have been expressed on this occasion, by that Government, and will readily and 
cheerfully co-operate with the State of Maine, in such measures as shall be best calculated to pre- 
vent the adoption, by the Government of the United States, of the new boundary line, recom- 
mended, as aforesaid, by the King of the Netherlands. 

Resolved, That the Senators of this Commonwealth, in Congress, be instructed, and the Re- 
presentatives thereof requested, to use their influence to prevent the adoption, by the Govern- 
ment of the United Slates, of the aforesaid new boundary. 

Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of these resolves 
and of the report preceding them, to each of the Senators and Representatives of the Common- 
wealth in Congress, to his Excellency the Governor of Maine, and to the Governors of all the 

other States in the Union 

MAINE. — Report and Resolution adopted by the Legislature of Maine, Feb. 28th, 1831. \ 

Resolved, That the Convention of September, 1827, tended to violate the Constitution of the \ 
United States, and to impair the sovereign rights and powers of the State of Maine, and that j 
Maine is not bound by the Constitution to submit to the decision which is or shall be / 
made under the Convention. 

Resolved, In the opinion of the Legislature, that the decision of the King of the Netherlands 
cannot and ought not to be considered as obligatory upon the Government of the United States 
either upon the principles of right, justice, and honor. ^ 

Resolved, further, for the reasons before stated, that no division made by any umpire under any \ 
circumstances, if the decision dismembers a State, has, or can have, any constitutional forcs ) 
or obligation upon the State thus dismembered, unless the State adopt and sanction the dey 
cision. / 

Report and Resolutions adopted January, 1832. 

The course which shall be adopted by the General Government, as well as by this State, is 
pregnant with most important consequences; and while the pe iple of Maine look to the -wisdom 
and power of the Union for that protection which the Federal Constitution guaranties to eacli State 
they also look to this Legislature for the adoption of all measures which mav tend to ob- 
tain that protection, and to secure to every citizen of Maine the sacred rights of liberty, and pro* 
lection of persons and property, when acting under the constitutional laws of the State. 

The State having protested against the right of the General Government to submit to arbitra- 
tion a question which might jeopardise our territorial rights, and having adopted sundry resolu- 
tions and reports of legislative committees, expressive of her views in relation to this subject, 
-which have been communicated to the General Government, and may be referred to, your com- 
mittee do not deem it necessary, atthistyme, to enter more into detnil ; but they recommend Hit 
auction of the resolutions, which are herewith respectfully submitted. 



80 

STATE OF MAINE. 

it Resolves respecting the North-eastern Bouudary. 

• * Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States does not invest the General Government 
with unlimited and absolute powers, but confers only a special aud modified sovereignty, without 
authority to cede to a foreign power any portion of territory belonging to a State, without its 
consent.} ) 

Resolved, "That if there is an attribute of State sovereignty which is unqualified and undenia- 
ble, it is the right of jurisdiction, to the utmost limits, of State territory; and if a single obliga- 
tion, under the Constitution, rests upon the confederacy, it is to guaranty the integrity of this ter- 
ritory to the quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of the States." 

Resolved, That the doings of the King ot Holland, on the subject of the boundary between the 
United States and Great Britain, are not a decision of the question submitted to the King of the 
Netherlands, and that his recommendation of a suitable or convenient line of boundary is not 
obligatory upon the parties to the submission. 

Resolved, That this State protests against the adoption, by the Government of the United 
States, of the line of boundary recommended by the King of Holland as a suitable boundary be- 
tween Great Britain and the United States, inasmuch as it will be a violation of the rights of 
Maine — rights acknowledged and insisted upon by the General Government — aud will be a pre- 
cedent, which endangers the integrity, as well as the independence, of every State in the Union. 
f Resolved, That while the people of this State are disposed to yield a ready obedience to the 
i Constitution and laws of the United States, they will never consent to render any foktioN _ 
I SoF their territory on the recommendation of a foreign power. V 

%\ Resolved, That the Governor, with the advice of Council, be authorized to appoint a compe- 
tent agent, whose duty it shall be, as soon as may be, to repair to the city of Washington, and de- 
j liver to the President of the United States a copy of the preceding report and these resolutions, 
with a request that he will lay the same, before the Senate of the United States; and also to deliver 
l a copy to the Vice-President, to each of the heads of the Departments, and to each member of 
the Senate, and to our representatives in Congress. 

Resolved, That our senators in Congress be instructed, and our representatives requested, to 
use their beot efforts to prevent our State from being dismembered, our territory alienated, and 
our just rights prostrated, by the adoption of a new line for our northeastern boundary, as recom- 
mended by the King of Holland. 

Resolved, That the agent to be appointed by the Governor and Council, be instructed to co- 
operate with our senators and representatives, in advocating and enforcing the principles advanced, 
and positions taken, in the foregoing resolutions, and in supporting all such measures as snail be 
deemed best calculated to preserve the integrity of*^ov State, and prevent any portion of our ter- 
ritory and citizens from being transferred to a foreign power. 
In the House of Kepeskntatives, January 18, 1832. 

Read and passed: BENJAMIN WHITE, Speaker. 

In Senate, January 19, 1832. Read and passed: ROBERT P. DUNLAP, President. 

January 19th, 1832. Approved* SAM'L E. SMITH. 

.STATE OF MAINE. Secretary of State's Office, Augusta, January 20th,' 1832. 

A true copy. Attest: It. G GREENE, Secretary of State. 

(OHIO. 
The proceedings of the Ohio Legislature in 1820, against the Bank of the United States, to pre- 
vent its establishment in that State 
" Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That in respect to the powers of 
Ihe governments of the several States which compose the American Union, and the powers of the 
Federal Government, this General Assembly do recognize and approve the docirinea asserted by 
the Legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky, in their resolutions of November and December, 1798, 
and January 1800 — and do consider that their principles have been recognized and adopted by a 
majority of the American people." v 

On this subject, the Report, which precedes the Resolutions, contains the following words: 
"The States i,m\ the People recognized and affirmed the Doctrines of Kentucky and Virginia, 
by ejecting a total change in the administration of the Federal Government. In the pardon of 
Calender, convicted under the Sedition Law, and in the remittance of his fine, the new Adminis- 
tration unequivocally recognized the decision and the authority of the States and of the people. 
Thus has the question whether the Federal Courts an- the sole expositors of the Constitution of 
the United States, in the last reson or whether the States, ' as in all other cases of compact among 
parties having nq common judge,' 1 huvn an eq.ual iur*HT to interpret that Constitution von them- 
selves, where their sovereign rights are involved, bee;i deeided against the pretension of the 
federai, judoes, by the pe pie themselves, the true source ot legitimate power." 

Resolutions against the Jurisdiction of the United States Court in the case of the Rank, and all 
cases involving political rights; and against the powers of the General Government, establishing 
the Bank, in these wort!?: 

"Resolved further, That this General Assembly do protest against the doctrines of the Fe- 
deral Circuit Court, sitting in this State, avowed and maintained in their proceedings against the 
officers of the State, upon account of their official Acts, as being in direct violation of the 11th 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 

" Resolved further, That this General Assembly do protest against the doctrine that the ro- 
WTICAL rights of the separate States that compose the American Union, and their powers as 
sovereign States, may be settled and determined in the Supreme Court of the United Slates, 
so as to conclude and bind them in cuses costritjeb between individuals, and where are, no one 
of them, parties direct. 



81 

" Itesolvgd furt/ier, That the Governor transmit to the Governors of the several States a copy 
ef the foregoing: Report and Resolutions to be laid before their respective Legislatures, with a 
request from this Assembly that the Legislature of each State may express their opinion upon the 
matters therein named . 

" Resolved further, That the Governor transmit a copy of the foregoing Report and Resolutions 
to the President of the United States, and to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the 
House of Representatives of the United States to be laid before their respective Houses — that the 
principles upon which this State has, and does proceed, may be fairly and distinctly understood. 

NEW YORK.— In the Legislature of New York, on the 8th Nov. 1824— 
Mr. Tallmadge in the House of Assembly offered a Resolution against the Right of Congress 
to licence, and to demand Tonnage Duties from Canal boats in that State, which was adopted almost 
unanimously, declaring that " Whereas it appears to this Legislature, after due consideration that 
the claim on the part of the United States, to require boats which navigate our Canals, to be en- 
rolled or licenced and to pay Tonnage Duties, is a claim not founded on any legal right — and in 
regard to the circumstances under which it is made, such claim is so evidently unjust and oppres- 
sive, that the interference of its State is called for in defence of its citizens— Therefore! 

Resolved, (If the Senate concur) that the Senators of this state in the Senate of the United 
States, be directed, and the Representatives of this State, in the House of Representutives of the 
United States be requested to use their utmost endeavors to prevent any such unjust and oppres- 
sive exaction for Tonnage Duties on boats navigating the Canals from being earned into effect." 

This was the first Step of insistence. Eighteen months after this, Mr. Van Buken in the 
United States' Senate, gave notice that his State "ivozdd resist to the last extremity. " The follow- 
ing are his remarks in the Senate of the United States. May 19, 1826. 

"From that time (1824) to the present, or until very recently no steps have been taken bv the 
Government to enforce its claim — nor in behalf of the State, to shield lierself against injustice." 

" From unofficial and informal explanations, it was supposed that the pretensions of the Gene- 
ral Government would not be renewed. Mr. Van Buren said that he had read in the public pa- 
pers, that instructions had recently been given to the Collector of Buffalo, to demand of every 
boat navigating the Canal, a Tonnage Duty, and an entrance fee. He had understood the same, 
from other, though unofficial sources This, he observed, v as a subject in which the people of 
the State of New York, as would naturally be supposed, took a deep interest. They look upon 
this claim as in every way unwarrantable^ and ij submitted to- destructive of their highest and 
dearest interests. As, however, there might be a mistake on the subject, though he feared there 
was none, he would for the present, forbear making those animadversions which, should the case 
be as represented, the duties of his station would impose upon him. All that he would now say^ 
was — that in behalf of the State, he contended that the Act of 1793, was not intended to embrace 
waters of the description to which it has been attempted to extend it; that they are not emb ated 
by its terms; and that to apply it to them would be an abuse of power on the part of the officers of 
th Federal GovernmentThat, if in this mistaken, the act itself was unauthorized by the Consti- 
tution of the United States, an encroachment on the rights of the State, which she ought) and 

■would resist to the last extremitv." 

EXTRACTS FROM THE FEDERALIST. 

In the 31st No. of the Federalist, we have the unqualified admission, that " the State Govern- 
ments, by their original constitutions, are invested -with complete sovereignty." It completely- 
sovereign, originally, then they had the right of judging and acting for themselves; they could not 
be bound by acts to which they had never consented. 

In the next paper (32d) we are told to what extent this original, perfect sovereignty had been 
yielded up. "An entire consolidation of the States, into one complete, national sovereignty, 
would imply an entire subordination of the parts; and whatever powers might remain in them 
would altogether dependant on the general will. But as the plan of the Convention aims only at 
a partial Union or consolidation, the State Governments would clearly retain all the rights of so- 
vereignty ivhich they before had, and-vhich -were not, by that act, exclusively delegated by the U. 
States. This exclusive delegation, or rather this alienation of State sovereignty, would onh exist 
in three cases; where the Constitution, in express teims, granted an exclusive authority to the 
Union — where it granted, in one instance, an authority to the Union, and in another, prohibited 
the States from exercising the like authority — and where it granted an authority to the Union, to 
which a similar authority in the States would be absolutely and totally contradictory and repug* 
nam. "f 

This original sovereignty, then, according to the Federalist, is as perfect and complete as ever, 
in all cases where it has not been directly and distinctly granted away. The grant must be ex- 
press. A State can be as little bound by acts to which she never consented, the power of doing 
which she never gave, as if she had never become a member of the Union. These are conclu- 
sions that inevitably follow from the admissions of the Federalist. 

The 33d No. is a vindication of two clauses of the constitution, of which one has been the fa- 
vorite resource of the constrictionists, and the other is still both sword and shield to the Submis- 
sionists. They are as follows: 

"Congress shall have power," &c. 

u The constitution and the laws of the United States, made in pursuance thereof," &c. 

Of these clauses, the authors assert that they do not carry an atom of power, wUieh the general 
government would not have had without them; that they were introduced merely for greater cau- 
tion This is perfectly obvious. He then goes on thus: 

*lt is clear then, on the other hand, that those who maintain the entire subordination of the 
parts, believe our Government a Consolidation, rnd that whatever powers the States still retain 
are strictly dependant on the general will. 



'•But it may be again asked, who is to judge of the necessity and propriety of the laws to be 
passed for executing the powers of the Union? I answer, first, that this question arises as well 
and as fully upon the simple grant of those powers, as upon the declaratory clause: and I answer, 
in the second place, that the National Government, like every other, must judge, in the first in- 
stance, of the proper exercise of its powers; and its constituents in the last. If the Federal Gov- 
ernment should overpass the just bounds of its authority, and make a tyrannical use oj its powers; 
the people, whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such 
measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence 
justify. 

But it is said, that the laws of the Union are to be the supreme law of the land. What inference 
can be drawn from this, or what would they amount to, if they were not to be supreme? It is 
evident that they would amount to nothing. A law, by the very meaning of the term, includes 
supremacy. It is a rule, which those to whom it is prescribed are bound to observe. This results 
| from every political association. If individuals enter into a state of society, the laws of that society 
» must be the supreme regulator of the conduct. If a number of political societies enter into a 
I larger political society, the laws which the latter may enact, pursuant to the powers intrusted to it 
f by its constitution, must necessarily be supreme over those societies and the individuals of whom 
they are composed. It would otherwise be a mere treaty, dependant on the good faith of the par- 
ties and not a government; which is only another word for political power and supremacy. — 
But it will not follow from this doctrine, that acts of ;he larger society, which are not pursuant to 
its constitutional powers, but which are invasions of the residuar authorities of the smaller socie- 
I ties will become the supreme law of the land. These will he merely acts of usurpation, and 
| will deserve to be treated as such. Hence we perceive, that the clause which declares the su- 
premacy of the laws of the Union, like the one we have just before considered, only declares a 
truth which flows immediately and necessarily from the institution of a Federal Government. It 
will not, I presume, have escaped observation, that it expressly confines this supremacy to laws 
made pursuant to the Constitution, which I mention merely as an instance of caution in the Con- 
vention; since that limitation would have been to be understood, though it had not been expressed." 
It is our design to shew that in all undelegated cases, the prerogative of State action was recog- 
nized by the framers of the Government; and we shall endeavor to prove this, by quotations from 
the writings we have alluded to, as authority which we presume no one will deny. 

All this is clear enough, it may be said, in cases where the power has not been delegated; 
still the question recurs, who is to determine what cases are of that class? We would say in reply, 
that any State has a right to make this question, and to suspend the law until it is determined by 
the original parties to the compact. The definitive character of this interposition is unfolded 
;bv what follows: — 

' "It may be safely received as an axiom in our political system," says the Federalist, " that the 
State Governments will in all contingencies afford complete security against invasion of the public 
liberty by the national authority. Projects of usurpation cannot be masked under pretences (for 
example to protect manufactures under the pretence to raise revenue) so likely to escape the pene- 
tration of select bodies of men, as of the people at large." If these vords are to be understood 
in their common acceptation, State interposition is here expressly referred to, as a means of pro- 
tection against powers usurped by the General Government. 

A °-ain, "power being almost always the rival of pow er, the General Government will at all 
times stand ready to check the usurpations of State Governments, and these will give the same 
dispositions towards the General Government. The people, by throwing themselves into either 
scale, will make it preponderate. If their rights are invaded by either they can make use op 
the other as the instrument of REDRESS. How wise will it be in them, by cherishing the 
Union to preserve for themselves an advantage which can never be too highly prized." Here it 
is expressly declared, and the people felicitated on the occasion, that when their rights are in- 
vaded by the General Government, State interposition will furnish the means of protection and 

"Every one will remember the remarkable event in Roman history, which led to the institution 
of the tribunes. The Plebeians being opposed by the Patricians, Withdrew to a mountain about 
three miles from Rome, afterwards called the Sacred Mountain. Nor could they be prevailed on 
to return until they obtained magistrates of their own to protect their rights, whose persons should 
be inviolable. These magistrates were called Tribunes. They had a negative upon all the pro- 
ceedings of the Senate, and actually did prevent the collections of tribute and the enlisting of 
soldiers. This negative was called the veto, and becomes the shield of protection to the Plebeians. 
Let us here remark that the Tribunes were invested with the sacred and inviolable character, 
which we believe belongs to the State sovereignty. On this incident the Federalist has the fol- 
Iowin«» reflection: "It is well known that in the Roman Republic, the legislative authority in the 
last resort resided for ages, in two different political bodies, not as branches of the same legisla- 
ture but as distinct and independent legislatures, in each of which an opposite interest prevailed — 
in one patrician— in the other Plebeian. Many arguments might have been adduced, to prove the 
unfitness of two such seemingly contradictory authorities, each having power to annul or repeal 
the acts of the other. But a man would have been regarded as frantic, who should have attempted 
at Rome to disprove their existence. And yet these two legislatures coexisted for ages, and the 
Rotran Republic attained to the pinnacle of human greatness."— -Now we will ask, for what 
purpose this event should be so particularly referred to, unless it was as an example that the 
States cannot be controlled in the exercise of this right, as appears from the following fact — 

In the Convention, for adopting the Constitution, the proposition was made " that Congress 
should have the power to call forth the force of the Union against a refractory State (which we sup- 
pose is what a Nullifying State would be called by the Consolidation men,) and it was mdeflnitery 
postponed. 



REVIEW 



OF 



THE DEBATE 



IN THE 



^raJB^asraii &iB&itDib4iwJBB 



OF 



1831 AJVD 1832, 



PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, METAPHYSICS AND POLITICAL LAW, 
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE. 



RICHMOND : 

Printed by T. W. White, opposite the Bell Tavern. 

1832. 



PREFACE 



The Essay on the Abolition of Negro Slavery, which is 
now presented to the public in pamphlet form, was origi- 
nally intended for the American Quarterly Review. Ow- 
ing to its inconvenient length, one whole division of the 
subject, treating of the origin and progress of slavery, was 
omitted in the Review, and minor portions of the two di- 
visions published, were suppressed. Under these circum- 
stances, the Author has determined to publish the whole 
article in pamphlet, much enlarged by recent additions. 
The subject he considers one of great importance, parti- 
cularly to Virginia. He believes the time has arrived 
when it must be fully discussed, and he cannot but hope 
that a full discussion will finally elicit the truth. 

The Author has given to the whole question of Aboli- 
tion the most mature consideration which he has been ca- 
pable of bestowing, and however inadequate the effort may 
be, in comparison with the magnitude of the subject, he 
hopes that all will allow, that he has stated throughout, as 
fairly and candidly as his limited capacity would allow, 
the argument on both sides. 

He has been enabled to superintend in person but a 
very small portion of the publication, owing to his official 
duties and the slowness with which the printing has been 
executed, at this busy season in Richmond. He has there- 
fore been obliged to trust almost exclusively to his printer, 
who, from unavoidable circumstances, has been confined 
principally to the first rough and careless draft. He hopes 
therefore, in regard to any inaccuracies which may appear 
in the composition, he may lay claim to the indulgence of 
his readers. 

William and Mary College, Va. Bee, 12, 1832. 



ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

i. — Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1S31-32, on the Abolition of Slavery. Rich- 
mond. 

2. — Letter of Appomattox to the People of Virginia on the subject of the Abolition of Sla- 
very. Richmond. 

In looking to the texture of the population of our country, 
there is nothing so well calculated to arrest the attention of the 
observer, as the existence of Negro Slavery throughout a large 
portion of the confederacy. A race of people differing from us in 
colour and in habits, and vastly inferior in the scale of civilization, 
have been increasing and spreading, " growing with our growth 
and strengthening with our strength," until they have become in- 
tertwined and intertwisted with every fibre of society. Go through 
our Southern country, and every where you see the negro slave 
by the side of the white man ; you find him alike in the mansion of 
the rich, the cabin of the poor, the workshop of the mechanic, and 
the field of the planter. Upon the contemplation of a population 
framed like this, a curious and interesting question readily sug- 
gests itself to the inquiring mind: — Can these two distinct races of 
people now living together as master and servant, be ever separa- 
ted ? Can the black be sent back to his African home, or will the 
day ever arrive when he can be liberated from his thraldom, and 
mount upwards in the scale of civilization and rights, to an equality 
with the white ? This is a question of truly momentous charac- 
ter; it involves the whole frame work of society, contemplates a 
separation of its elements, or a radical change in their relation, 
and requires for its adequate investigation the most complete and 
profound knowledge of the nature and sources of national wealth 
and political aggrandizement — an acquaintance with the elastic and 
powerful spring of population and the causes which invigorate or 
paralyze its energies, together with a clear perception of the vary- 
ing rights of man amid all the changing circumstances by which 
he may be surrounded, and a profound knowledge of all the princi- 
ples, passions and susceptibilities which make up the moral nature 
of our species ; and according as they are acted upon by adventi- 
tious circumstances, alter our condition, and produce all that won- 
derful variety of character which so strongly marks and characteri- 
zes the human family. Well then does it behoove even the wisest 
statesman to approach this august subject with the utmost circum- 
spection and diffidence ; its wanton agitation even is pregnant with 
mischief; but rash and hasty action threatens, in our opinion, the 
whole Southern country with irremediable ruin. The evil of yester- 
day's growth, may be extirpated to-day, and the vigour of society 
may heal the wound ; but that which is the growth of ages, may 
require ages to remove. The Parliament of Great Britain, with 
all its philanthropic zeal, guided by the wisdom and eloquence of 
such statesmen as Chatham, Fox, Burke, Pitt, Canning and 
Brougham, has never yet seriously agitated this question, in regard 
to the West India possessions. Revolutionary France, actuated by 
2 
• 



G 



the most intemperate and phrenetic zeal for liberty and equality, 
attempted to legislate the free people of colour in the Island of St. 
Domingo into all the rights and privileges of the whites ; and but 
a season afterwards, convinced of her madness, she attempted to 
retrace her steps, but it was too late ; the deed had been done, the 
bloodiest and most shocking insurrection ever recorded in the an- 
nals of history, had broken out, and the whole Island was involved 
in frightful carnage and anarchy, and France in the end, has been 
stript "of the brightest jewel in her crown," — the fairest and most 
valuable of all her colonial possessions. Since the revolution, 
France, Spain and Portugal, large owners of colonial possessions, 
have not only not abolished slavery in their colonies, but have not 
even abolished the slave trade in practice. 

In our Southern slave-holding country, the question of emanci- 
pation has never been seriously discussed in any of our legislatures, 
until the whole subject, under the most exciting circumstances, was, 
during the last winter, brought up for discussion in the Virginia 
Legislature, and plans of partial or total abolition were earnestly 
pressed upon the attention of that body. It is well known, that 
during the last summer, in the county of Southampton in Virginia, 
a few slaves, led on by Nat Turner, rose in the night, and murder- 
ed in the most inhuman and shocking manner, between sixty and 
seventy of the unsuspecting whites of that county. The news, of 
course, was rapidly diffused, and with it consternation and dismay 
were spread throughout the State, destroying for a time all feeling 
of security and confidence; and even when subsequent develope- 
rnent had proved, that the conspiracy had been originated by a fa- 
natical negro preacher, (whose confessions prove beyond a doubt 
mental aberration,) and that this conspiracy embraced but few 
slaves, all of whom had paid the penalty of their crimes, still the 
excitement remained, still the repose of the Commonwealth was 
disturbed, — for the ghastly horrors of the Southampton tragedy 
could not immediately be banished from the mind — and Rumour, 
too, with her thousand tongues, was busily engaged in spreading 
tales of disaffection, plots, insurrections, and even massacres, which 
frightened the timid and harassed and mortified the whole of the 
slave-holding population. During this period of excitement, when 
reason was almost banished from the mind, and the imagination 
was suffered to conjure up the most appalling phantoms, and pic- 
ture to itself a crisis in the vista of futurity, when the overwhelming 
numbers of the blacks would rise superior to all restraint, and involve 
the fairest portion of our land in universal ruin and desolation, we 
are not to wonder, that even in the lower part of Virginia, many 
should have seriously inquired, if this supposed monstrous evil 
could not be removed from our bosom. Some looked to the re- 
moval of the free people of colour by the efforts of the Coloniza- 
tion Society, as an antidote to all our ills. Some were disposed 
to strike at the root of the evil — to call on the General Government 
for aid, and by the labors of Hercules, to extirpate the curse of 



slavery from the land. Others again, who could not hear that 
Virginia should stand towards the General Government (whose un- 
constitutional action she had ever been foremost to resist.) in the 
attitude of a suppliant, looked forward to the legislative action of 
the State as capable of achieving the desired result. In this state 
of excitement and unallayed apprehension, the Legislature met, 
and plans for abolition were proposed and earnestly advocated in 
debate. 

Upon the impropriety of this debate, we beg leave to make a 
few observations. Any scheme of abolition proposed so soon after 
the Southampton tragedy, would necessarily appear to be the re- 
sult of that most inhuman massacre. Suppose the negroes, then, 
to be really anxious for their emancipation, no matter on what 
terms, would not the extraordinary effect produced on the legisla- 
ture by the Southampton insurrection, in all probabilit\^, have a 
tendency to excite another ? And we must recollect, from the nature 
of things, no plan of abolition could act suddenly on the whole 
mass of slave population in the State. Mr. Randolph's was not 
even to commence its operation till 1840. Waiting then, one year 
or more, until the excitement could be allayed and the empire of 
reason could once more have been established, would surely have 
been productive of no injurious consequences; and, in the mean 
time, a Legislature could have been selected which would much 
better have represented the views and wishes of their constituents 
on this vital question. Virginia could have ascertained the senti- 
ments and wishes of other slave-holding States, whose concurrence, 
if not absolutely necessary, might be highly desirable, and should 
have been sought after and attended to, at least as a matter of State 
courtesy. Added to this, the texture of the Legislature was not of 
that character calculated to ensure the confidence of the people in 
a movement of this kind. If ever there was a question debated 
in a deliberative body, which called for the most exalted talent, the 
longest and most tried experience, the utmost circumspection and 
caution, a complete exemption from prejudice and undue excite- 
ment where both are apt to prevail, an ardent and patriotic desire 
to advance the vital interests of the State, uncombined with 
mere desire for vain and ostentatious display, and with no view to 
party or geographical divisions, that question was the question of 
the abolition of slavery in the Virginia Legislature. "-Grave and 
reverend seniors," "the very fathers of the Republic," were indeed 
required for the settlement of a question of such magnitude. It ap- 
pears, however, that the Legislature was composed of an unusual 
number of young and inexperienced members, elected in the month 
of April previous to the Southampton massacre, and at a time of pro- 
found tranquillity and repose, when of course the people were not 
disposed to call from their retirement their most distinguished and 
experienced citizens. 

We are very ready to admit, that in point of ability and elo- 
quence, the debate transcended our expectations. One of the lead- 



8 

ing political papers in the State remarked — " We have never heard 
any debate so eloquent, so sustained, and in which so great a num- 
ber of speakers had appeared, and commanded the attention of so 

numerous and intelligent an audience."" "Day after day, 

multitudes throng to the capital, and have been compensated by 
eloquence which would have illustrated Rome or Athens." But 
however fine might have been the rhetorical display, however 
ably some isolated points might have been discussed, still we af- 
firm, with confidence, that no enlarged, wise, and practical plan of 
operations, was proposed by the abolitionists. We will go farther, 
and assert that their arguments, in most cases, were of a wild and 
intemperate character, based upon false principles and assumptions 
of the most vicious and alarming kind; subversive of the rights of 
property and the order and tranquillity of society; and portending 
to the whole slave-holding country — if the3 r ever shall be followed 
out in practice — the most inevitable and ruinous consequences. Far 
be it, however, from us, to accuse the abolitionists in the Virginia 
Legislature, of any settled malevolent design to overturn or con- 
vulse the fabric of society. We have no doubt that they were act- 
ing conscientiously for the best ; but it often happens that frail 
imperfect man, in the too ardent and confident pursuit of imagi- 
nary good, runs upon his utter destruction. 

We have not formed our opinion lightly upon this subject ; we 
have given to the vital question of abolition the most mature and 
intense consideration which we are capable of bestowing, and we 
have come to the conclusion — a conclusion which seems to be sus- 
tained by facts and reasoning as irresistible as the demonstration 
of the mathematician — -that every plan of emancipation and de- 
portation which we can possibly conceive, is totally impracticable. 
We shall endeavor to prove, that the attempt to execute these plans 
can only have a tendency to increase all the evils of which we com- 
plain, as resulting from slavery. If this be true, then the great 
question of abolition will necessarily be reduced to the question of 
emancipation, with a permission to remain, which we think can easily 
be shown to be utterly subversive of the interests, security, and hap- 
piness, of both the blacks and whites, and consequently hostile to 
every principle of expediency, morality, and religion. We have 
heretofore doubted the propriety even of too frequently agitating, 
especially in a public manner, the question of abolition, in con- 
sequence of the injurious effects which might be produced on the 
slave population. But the Virginia Legislature, in its zeal for 
discussion, boldly set aside all prudential considerations of this 
kind, and openly and publicly debated the subject before the world. 
The seal has now been broken, the example has been set from a 
high quarter; we shall therefore, waive all considerations of a pru- 
dential character which have heretofore restrained us, and boldly 
grapple with the abolitionists on this great question. We fear not 
the result, so far as truth, justice, and expediency alone are con- 
cerned. But we must be permitted to say, that we do most deeply 



dread the effects of misguided philanthropy, and the marked, and 
we had like to have said, impertinent instrusion in this matter, of 
those who have no interest at stake, and who have not that inti- 
mate and minute knowledge of the whole subject so absolutely ne- 
cessary to wise action. 

Without further preliminary, then, we shall advance to the dis- 
cussion of the question of abolition; noticing not only the plans 
proposed in the Virginia Legislature, but some others likewise. 
And, as the subject of slavery has been considered in every point 
of view, and pronounced, in the abstract at least, as entirely con- 
trary to the law of nature, we propose taking in the first place, 
a hasty view of the origin of slavery, and point out the influence 
which it has exerted on the progress of civilization, and to this pur- 
pose it will be necessary to look back to other ages — cast a glance 
at nations differing from us in civilization and manners, and see 
whether it is possible to mount to the source of slavery. 

I. Origin of Slavery and its Effects on the Progress of Civilization, 

Upon an examination of the nature of man, we find him to be al- 
most entirely the creature of circumstances — his habits and senti- 
ments are in a great measure the growth of adventitious causes — 
hence the endless variety and condition of our species. We are almost 
ever disposed, however, to identify the course of nature, with the 
progress of events in our own narrow contracted sphere; we look 
upon any deviation from the constant round in which we have been 
spinning out the thread of our existence, as a departure from na- 
ture's great system ; and from a known principle of our nature, 
our first impulse is to condemn. It is thus that the man born and 
nurtured in the lap of freedom, looks upon slavery as unnatural 
and horrible; and if he be not instructed upon the subject, is sure 
to think that so unnatural a condition could never exist but in Cew 
countries or ages — in violation of every law of justice and human- 
ity ; and he is almost disposed to implore the divine wrath, to 
shower down the consuming fire of Heaven on the Sodoms and 
Gomorrhas of the world, where this unjust practice prevails. 

But, when he examines into the past condition of mankind, he 
stands amazed at the fact which history developes to his view. — 
"Almost every page of ancient history," says Wallace, in his Dis- 
sertation on the Numbers of Mankind, "demonstrates the great 
multitude of slaves; which gives occasion to a melancholy reflec- 
tion, that the world when best peopled, was not a world of free- 
men, but of slaves:"* "And in every age and country, until times 
comparatively recent," says Hallam, "personal servitude appears 
to have been the lot of a large, perhaps the greater portion of 
mankind. "f 

Slavery was established and sanctioned by Divine Authority, 
among even the elect of Heaven — the favoured children of Israel. 

* P. 93. Edinburg Edition, f Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 120, Philadelphia Edition. 



10 

Abraham, the founder of this interesting nation, and the chosen 
servant of the Lord, was the owner of hundreds of slaves — that mag- 
nificent shrine, the Temple of Solomon, was reared by the hands of 
slaves. Egypt's venerable and enduring piles were reared by simi- 
lar hands. Slavery existed in Assyria and Babylon. The ten tribes 
of Israel were carried off in bondage to the former by Shalmane- 
zar, and the two tribes of Judah were subsequently carried in tri- 
umph by Nebuchadnezzar to beautify and adorn the latter. An- 
cient Phoenicia and Carthage had slaves — the Greeks and Trojans 
at the siege of Troy, had slaves — Athens, and Sparta, and Thebes, 
indeed the whole Grecian and Roman worlds, had more slaves than 
freemen. And in those ages which succeeded the extinction of the 
Roman Empire in the West, "Servi or slaves," says Dr. Robert- 
son, " seem to have been the most numerous class."* Even in 
this day of civilization, and the regeneration of governments, sla- 
very is far from being confined to our hemisphere alone. The 
Serf and Labour rents prevalent throughout the whole of Eastern 
Europe and a portion of Western Asia; and the Ryot rents through- 
out the extensive and over populated countries of the East, and 
over the dominions of the Porte in Europe, Asia and Africa, but 
too conclusively mark the existence of slavery over these bound- 
less regions. And when we turn to the vast continent of Africa, 
we find slavery in all its most horrid forms, existing throughout its 
whole extent — the slaves being at least three times more numerous 
than the freemen ; so that, looking to the whole world, we may even 
now with confidence assert, that slaves, or those whose condition is 
infinitely worse, form by far the largest portion of the human 



race 



Well then, may we here pause, and inquire a moment — for it is 
surely worthy of inquiry — how has slavery arisen and thus spread 
over our globe? We shall not pretend to enumerate accurately, 
and in detail, all the causes which have led to slavery; but we be- 
lieve the principal may be summed up under the following heads : 
1st, Laws of War — 2nd, State of Property and Feebleness of Go- 
vernment — 3rd, Bargain and Sale — and 4th, Crime. 

1st. Laws of War. — There is no circumstance which more ho- 
norably and creditably characterizes modern warfare than the hu- 
manity with which it is waged, and the mildness with which captives 
are treated. Civilized nations, with but few exceptions, now act 
in complete conformity with the wise rule laid dov» n. by Grotius, 
" That in war we have a right only to the use of those means 
which have a connection morally neeessary with the end in view." 
Consequently, we have no just right, where this rule is adhered to 
by our adversary, to enslave or put to death enemies non comba- 
tant, who may be in our possession — for this in modern times, among 
civilized nations, is not morally necessary to the attainment of the 
end in view. On the contrary, if such a practice were commenced 

*See Robertson's Works, vol. 3, p. 186. 



11 

now, it would only increase the calamities of the belligerents, by 
converting their wars into wars of extermination,* or rapine, and 
plunder — terminated generally with infinitely less advantage, and 
more difficulty to each of the parties. But humane and advanta- 
geous as this mitigated practice appears, we are not to suppose it 
universal, or that it has obtained in all ages. On the contrary, it 
is the growth of modern civilization, and has been confined in a 
great measure to civilized Europe and its colonies. . i 

Writers on the progress of society, designate three stages in I J 
which man has been found to exist. First, the hunting or fishing 
state — second, the pastoral — third, agricultural. Man in the hunt- 
ing state, has ever been found to wage war in the most cruel and 
implacable manner — extermination being the object of the bellige- 
rent tribes. Never has there been a finer field presented to the 
philosopher, for a complete investigation of the character of any 
portion of our species, than the whole American hemisphere pre- 
sented for the complete investigation of the character of savages fj 
in the hunting and fishing state. 

Doctor Robertson has given us a most appalling description of 
the cruelties with which savage warfare was waged throughout the 
whole continent of America and the barbarous manner in which 
prisoners were every where put to death. He justly observes that 
" the bare description is enough to chill the heart with horror, 
wherever men have been accustomed, by milder institutions, to re- 
spect their species, and to melt into tenderness at the sight of hu- 
man sufferings. The prisoners are tied naked to a stake, but so 
as to be at liberty to move round it. All who are present, men, 
women and children, rush upon thern like furies. Every species 
of torture is applied that the rancour of revenge can invent ; some 
burn their limbs with red hot iron, some mangle their bodies with 
knives, others 4ear their flesh from their bones, pluck out their nails 
by the roots, and rend and twist their sinews. Nothing sets bounds 
to their rage but the dread of abridging the duration of their 
vengeance by hastening the death of the sufferers ; and such is 
their cruel ingenuity in tormenting, that by avoiding industriously 
to hurt any vital part, they often prolong the scene of anguish for 
several days."* Let us now inquire into the cause of such barba- 
rous practices, and we shall find that they must be imputed princi- 
pally to the passion of revenge. In the language of the same 
eloquent writer whom we have just quoted; " in small communities 
every man is touched with the injury or affront offered to the body 
of which he is a member, as if it were a personal attack on his 
own honor and safety. War, which between extensive kingdoms 
is carried on with little animosity, is prosecuted by small tribes 
with all the rancour of a private quarrel. When polished nations 
have obtained the glory of victory, or have acquired an addition 
of territory, they may terminate a war with honor. But savages 

*See Robertson's America, Philad. Ed. vol. 1, p. 197. 



12 

are not satisfied, until they extirpate the community which is the 
object of their hatred. They fight not to conquer, but destroy.' 1 
" The desire of vengeance is the first and almost the only principle, 
which a savage instils into the minds of his children. The desire 
of vengeance which takes possession of the hearts of savages, re- 
sembles the instinctive rage of an animal, rather than the passion 
of a man."* Unfortunately too, interest conspires with the desire 
of revenge, to render savage warfare horrible. The wants of the 
savage, it is true, are few and simple; but limited as they are, ac- 
cording to their mode of life it is extremely difficult to supply them, i 
Hunting and fishing afford at best a very precarious subsistence.'* 
Throughout the extensive regions of America, population was 
found to be most sparsely scattered, but thin as it was, it was most 
wretchedly and scantily supplied with provisions. Under these 
circumstances, prisoners of war could not be kept, for the feeding 
of them would be sure to produce a famine. f They would not be 
sent back to their tribe, for that would strengthen the enemy. 
They could not even make slaves of them, for their labour would 
have been worthless. Death then was unfortunately the punish- 
ment, which was prompted both by interest and revenge. And 
accordingly, throughout the whole continent of America, we find 
with but one or two exceptions, that this was the dreadful fate which 
awaited the prisoners of all classes, men women and children. In 
fact, this has been the practice of war, wherever man was found 
in the first stages of society — living on the precarious subsistence 
of the chace. The savages of the Islands of Andaman, in the East, 
supposed by many to be lowest in the scale of civilization, of Van 
Diemen's land, of New Holland, and of the Islands of the South 
PacificJ are all alike, — they all agree in the practice of extermi- 
nating enemies by the most perfidious and cruel conduct; and, 
throughout many extensive regions, the horrid practice of feasting 
on the murdered prisoner prevails. § 

What is there, let us ask, which is calculated to arrest this hor- 
rid practice, and to communicate an impulse towards civilization ? 
Strange as it may sound in modern ears, it is the institution of 
property and the existence of slavery. Judging from the univer- 

*See Robertson's America, vol. 1, pp. 192, 193. 

f " If a few Spaniards settled in any district, such a small addition of supernumerary 
mouths soon exhausted their scanty stores and brought on famine." — Doctor Robertson, 
page 182. 

% Gap:. Cook, in his third voyage, says of the natives in the neighborhood of Glueen 
Charlotte's Sound, "If I had followed the advice of all our pretended friends, I might 
have extirpated the whole race, for the people of each hamlet or village, by turns applied 
to me to destroy the other." ..." It appears to me that the New Zealanders must live in 
perpetual apprehensions of being destroyed by each other." 

§ Among the Iroquois, says Dr. Robertson, the phrase by which they express their 
resolution of making war against an enemy, is, "let us go and eat that nation" If they 
solicit the aid of a neighboring tribe, they invite it to eat broth made of the flesh of their 
enemies. Among the Abnakis, according to the "Lettres Edif. et Curieuse," the 
chief, after dividing his warriors into parties, says to each, to you is given such a ham- 
let to eat, to you such a village, &c Capt. Cook, in his third voyage, says of the N. 
Zealanders, " perhaps the desire of making a good meal (on prisoners) is no small in- 
ducement" (to go to war). 



13 

sality of the fact, we may assert that domestic slavery seems to be 
the only means of fixing the wanderer to the soil, moderating his 
savage temper, mitigating the horrors of war, and abolishing the 
practice of murdering the captives. In the pure hunting state, 
man has little idea of property, and consequently there is little 
room for distinction, except what arises from personal qualities. — 
People in this state, retain therefore a high sense of equality and 
independence. It is a singular fact, that the two extremes of so- 
ciety are most favorable to liberty and equality — the most sa- 
vage and the most refined and enlightened — the former in conse- 
quence of the absence of the institution of property — and the latter 
from the diffusion of knowledge and the consequent capability of 
self government. The former is characterized bj' a wild, licentious 
independence, totally subversive of all order and tranquillity, and 
the latter by a well ordered, well established liberty, which while 
it leaves to each the enjoyment of the fruits of his industry, secures 
him against the lawless violence and rapine of his neighbors. 
Throughout the whole American continent, this equality and 
savage independence seem to have prevailed, except in the compa- 
ratively great kingdoms of Mexico and Peru, where the right to 
property was established. 

So soon as private right to property is established, slavery 
commences, and with the institution of slavery the cruelties of war 
begin to diminish. The chief finds it to his interest to make slaves 
of his captives, rather than put them to death. This system com- 
mences with the shepherd state, and is consummated in the agri- 
cultural ; slavery therefore seems to be the chief means of mitiga- 
ting the horrors of war. Accordingly, wherever among barbarous 
nations they have so far advanced in civilization as to understand 
the use which may be made of captives, by converting them into 
slaves, there the cruelties of war are found to be lessened. 

Throughout the whole continent of Africa, in consequence of 
the universal prevalence of slavery, war is not conducted with the 
same barbarous ferocity as by the American Indian. And hence 
it happens, that some nations become most cruel to those whom 
they would most wish to favor. Thus, on the borders of Persia, 
some of the tribes of Tartars massacre all the true believers who 
fall into their hands, but preserve heretics and infidels ; because 
their religion forbids them to make slaves of true believers, and 
allows them to use or sell all others at their pleasure.* 

In looking to the history of the world, we find that interest, and 
interest alone, has been enabled successfully to war against the 
fiercer passion of revenge. The only instance of mildness in war 
among the savages of North America, results from the operation 
of interest. Sometimes, when the tribe has suffered great loss of 
numbers, and stands very much in need of recruits, the prisoner is 

* Tacitus tells us that civil wars are always the most cruel, because the prisoners are 
not made slaves. 

3 



14 

saved, and adopted (says Robertson,) as a member of the nation* 
Pastoral nations require but few slaves, and consequently they save 
but few prisoners for this purpose. Agricultural require more, and 
this state is the most advantageous to slavery. Prisoners of war 
are generally spared by such nations, in consideration of the use 
which may be made of their labor. 

It is curious in this respect, to contemplate the varied success 
with which, under various circumstances, the principle of self in- 
terest combats that of vengeance. The barbarians who overran 
the Roman Empire, existed principally in the pastoral state ; they 
brought along with them their wives and children, and consequent- 
ly they required extensive regions for their support and but few 
slaves. We find accordingly, they waged a most cruel, extermina- 
ting war, not even sparing women and children. " Hence," says 
Dr. Robertson, in his preliminary volume to the History of Charles 
the 5th, " If a man were called to fix upon a period in the history 
of the world, during which the condition of the human race was 
most calamitous and afflicted, he would, without hesitation, name 
that which elapsed from the death of Theodosius the Great, (A. D. 
395,) to the reign of Alboinus in Lombardy," (A. D. 571.) At 
the last mentioned epoch, the barbarian inundations spent them- 
selves, and consequently repose was given to the world. 

Slavery was very common at the siege of Troy ; but in conse- 
quence of the very rude state of agriculture prevalent in those days, 
and the great reliance placed on the spontaneous productions of 
the earth, the same number of slaves was not required as in subse- 
quent ages, when agriculture had made greater advances. Hence 
we find the laws of war of a very cruel character — the principle 
of revenge triumphing over every other. These are the evils, 
we are informed by Homer, that follow the capture of a town — 
" the men are killed, the city is burned to the ground, the 
women and children of all ranks are carried off for slaves," 
(Iliad, L. 9.) Again : " Wretch that I am," says the vene- 
rable Priam, " what evil docs the great Jupiter bring on me 
in my old age? My sons slain, my daughters dragged into slave- 
ry, violence pervading even the chambers of my palace, and the 
very infants dashed against the ground in horrid sport of war. I 
myself, slain in the vain office of defence, shall be the prey of my 
own dogs perhaps in the very palace gates" ! (Iliad, L. 22.) 

In after times, during the glorious days of the Republics of both 
Greece and Rome, the wants of man had undergone an enlarge- 
ment; agriculture had been pushed to a high state of improve- 
ment, population became more dense, and consequently a more 
abundant production, and more regular and constant application 
of labor became necessary. At this period, slaves were in great \ 
demand, and therefore the prisoners of war w 7 ere generally spared 
in order that they might be made slaves. And this mildness did 
not arise so much from their civilization, as from the great demand 
for slaves. All the Roman generals, even the mild Julius, were 



i 



II 



15 

sufficiently cruel to put to death when they did not choose to make 
slaves of the captives. Hence, as cruel as were the Greeks and 
Romans in war, they were much milder than the surrounding bar- 
barous nations. In like manner, the wars in Africa have been 
made perhaps more mild by the slave trade, than they would other- 
wise have been. Instances are frequent, where the prisoner has 
been immediately put to death, because a purchaser could not be 
found. The report of the Lords in 1789, speaks of a female cap- 
tive in Africa, for whom an anker of brandy had been offered — but 
before the messenger arrived, her head was cut off. Sir George 
Young saved the life of a beautiful boy, about five years old, at 
Sierra Leone : the child was about to be thrown into the river 
by the person that had him to sell, because he was too young to 
be an object of trade; but Sir George offered a quarter cask of 
Madeira for him, which was accepted.* A multitude of such in- 
stances might easily be cited from commanders of vessels and tra- 
vellers, who have ever visited Africa. And thus do we find, by a 
review %f the history of the world, that slavery alone which ad- 
dresses itself to the principle of self interest is capable of overcom- 
ing that inordinate desire of vengeance which glows in the breast 
of the savage ; and therefore we find the remark made by Vol- .. 
taire, in his Phi. Die. that " Slavery is as ancient as war, and war // 
as human nature'' is not strictly correct; for many wars have 
been too cruel to admit of slavery. 

Let us now close this head by an inquiry into the justice of sla- 
very, flowing from the laws of war. And here we may observe in 
the first place, that the whole of the ancient world, and all nations 
of modern times verging on a state of barbarism — never for a mo- 
ment doubted this right. All history proves that they have looked 
upon slavery as a mild punishment, in comparison with what they 
had a right to inflict. And so far from being conscience-stricken, 
when they inflicted the punishment of death or slavery, they seem- 
ed to glory in the severity of the punishment — and to be remorse- 
ful only when from some cause they had not inflicted the worst. 
" Why so tender hearted?" says Agamemnon to Menalaus, seeing 
him hesitate, while a Trojan of high rank, who had the misfortune 
to be disabled by being thrown from his chariot, was begging for 
life, — " Are you and your house so beholden to the Trojans ? Let 
not one of them escape destruction from our hands — no, not the 
child within his mother's womb. Let all perish unmourned." — ^ 
And the poet even, gives his sanction to this inhumanity of Aga- 
memnon, who was never characterized as inhuman : " It was justly 
spoken, (says Homer) and he turned his brother's mind." And 
the suppliant was murdered by the hand of the king of men. 
" When the unfortunate monarch of Troy came to beg the body 
of his heroic son, (Hector) we find the conduct of Achilles marked 
by a superior spirit of generosity. Yet, in the very act of grant- 

* See Edwards' "West Indies, vol. 2, book 4, chap. 4. 



16 

ing the pious request, he doubts if he is quite excusable to the soul 
of his departed friend, for remitting the extremity of vengeance 
which he had meditated, and restoring the corse to secure the rites 
of burial."* To ask them, whether men, with notions similar to 
these, had a right to kill or enslave the prisoner, would almost be 
like gravely inquiring into the right of tigers and lions to kill each 
other and devour the weaker beasts of the forest. If we look to 
the Republics of Greece and Rome, in the days of their glory and 
civilization, we shall find no one doubting the right to make slaves 
of those taken in war. "No legislator of antiquity," says Vol- 
taire, "ever attempted to abrogate slavery; on the contrary, the 
people the most enthusiastic for liberty — the Athenians, the Lace- 
demonians, the Romans, and the Carthagenians — were those who 
enacted the most severe laws against their serfs. Society was so 
accustomed to this degradation of the species, that Epictetus, who 
was assuredly worth more than his master, never expresses any 
surprise at his being a slave."-)- Julius Caesar, has been reckoned 
one of the mildest and most clement military chieftains ofipantiqui- 
ty, and yet there is very little doubt, that the principal object in 
the invasion of Britain, was to procure slaves for the Roman slave 

m markets. When he left Britain, it became necessary to collect to- \ 
gether a large fleet for the purpose of transporting his captives ** 
across the channel. He sometimes ordered the captive chiefs to 
be executed, and he butchered the whole of Cato's Senate when 
he became master of Utica. Paulus Emilius, acting under the 
special orders of the Roman Senate, laid all Epirus waste, and 
brought 150,000 captives in chains to Italy, all of whom were sold 
in the Roman slave markets. Augustus Ceesar, was considered 
one of the mildest, most pacific and most politic of the Roman 
Emperors, yet when he rooted out the nation of the Salassii, who 
dwelt upon the Alps, he sold 36,000 persons into slavery. Calo, 
was a large owner of slaves, most of whom he had purchased in 
the slave markets at the sale of prisoners of war. J Aristotle, the 
greatest philosopher of antiquity, and a man of as capacious mind 
as the world ever produced, was a warm advocate of slavery — 
maintaining that it was reasonable, necessary and natural, and ac- 
cordingly in his model of a republic, there were to be compara- 
tivelv few freemen served by many slaves. § 

If we turn from profane history to Holy Writ — that sacred foun- 

l( tain whence are derived those pure precepts, and holy laws and 
regulations by which the christian world has ever been governed, 
we shall find that the children of Israel, under the guidance of Je- 
hovah, massacred or enslaved their prisoners of war. So far from 
considering slavery a curse, they considered it a punishment much 
too mild, and regretted from this cause alone its infliction. / . 

*See Mitford's Greece, vol. 1, chap. 2, sec. 4. 
| See Philosophical Dictionary, title " Slaves." 
X See Plutarch's Lives, Cato the elder. 
§ Aristotle's Politics, book 1, chap. 4. 



(( 



17 



// 



The children of Israel, when they marched upon the tribes of 
Canaan, were in a situation, very similar to the Northern invaders 
who overran the Roman Empire. They had their wives and chil- 
dren along with them, and wished to make Canaan their abode. 
Extermination therefore, became necessary ; and accordingly, we 
find that the Gibeonites alone, who practised upon the princes of 
Israel by a fraud, escaped the dreadful scene of carnage. They 
were enslaved, and so far from regretting their lot, they seem to 
have delighted in it; and the children of Israel, instead of mourn- 
ing over the destiny of the enslaved Gibeonites, murmured that 
they were not massacred — " and all the congregation murmured 
against the princes/' And the answer of the princes was, " we 
will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath 
which we swear unto them." "But let them be hewers of wood 
and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had 
promised them."* If 

But it is needless to multiply instances farther to illustrate the 
ideas of the ancient world in regard to their rights to kill or en- 
slave at pleasure the unfortunate captive. . Nor will we now cite 
the example of Africa, the great storehouse of slavery for the mo- 
dern world, which so completely sustains our position in regard to 
the opinions of men on this subject, farther than to make an ex- 
tract from a speech delivered in the British House of Commons 
by Mr. Henniker, in 1789, in which the speaker asserts that a let- 
ter had been received by George III, from one of the most power- 
ful of African potentates, the Emperor of Dahomey, which letter 
admirably exemplifies African's notions about the right to kill or 
enslave prisoners of war. "He (Emperor of Dahomey) stated," 
said Mr. H., " that as he understood King George was the great- 
est of white kings, so he thought himself the greatest of black ones. 
He asserted that he could lead 500,000 men armed into the field, 
that being the pursuit to which ail his subjects were bred, and the 
women only staying at home to plant and manure the earth. He 
had himself fought two hundred and nine battles, with great repu- 
tation and success, and had conquered the great king of Ardah. 
The king's head was to this day preserved with the flesh and hair ; 
the heads of his generals were distinguished by being placed on 
each side of the doors of their Fetiches; with the heads of the in- 
ferior officer^they paved the space before the doors ; and the heads 
of the common soldiers formed a sort of fringe or out work round 
the walls of the palace. Since this war, he had experienced the 
greatest good fortune, and he hoped in good time to be able to , - 
complete the out walls of all his great houses, to the number of // 
seven, in the same manner."! 

Mr. Norris, who visited this empire in 1772, actually testifies to 
the truth of this letter. He found the palace of the Emperor an 

* See 9th chapter of Joshua. 

t See Hazlitz's British Eloquence, vol. 2. 



18 

immense assemblage of cane and mud tents enclosed by a high* 
wall. The skulls and jaw bones of enemies slain in battle, form- 
ed the favorite ornaments of the palaces and temples. The king's 
apartments were paved, and the walls and roof stuck over with 
these horrid trophies. And if a farther supply appeared at any 
time desirable, he announced to his general, that " his house 
wanted thatch," when a war for that purpose was immediately 
undertaken.* Who can for a moment be so absurd as to imagine 
that such a prince as this could doubt of his right to make slaves 
in war, when he gloried in being able to thatch his houses with 
the heads of his enemies? Who could doubt that any thing else 
than a strong sense of interest, would ever put an end to such bar- 
barity and ferocity ? Our limits will not allow us to be more mi- 
nute, however interesting the subject. 

And, therefore, we will now examine into the right, according to 
the law of nations — the strict jus gentium — and we shall find all 
the writers agree in the justice of slavery, under certain circum- 
stances. Grotius says, that, as the law of nature permits prisoners 
of war to be killed, so the same law has introduced the right of 
making them slaves, that the captors, in view to the benefit arising 
from the labor or sale of their prisoners, might be induced to spare 
them.t From the general practice of nations before the time of 
Puffendorf, he came to the conclusion that slavery has been estab- 
lished "by the free consent of the opposing parties." J 

Rutherforth, in his Institutes, says " since all the members of a na- 
tion, against which a just war is made, are bound to repair the da- 
mages that gave occasion to the war, or that are done in it, and 
likewise to make satisfaction for the expenses of carrying it on; 
the law of nations will allow those who are prisoners to be made 
slaves by the nation which takes them; that so their labor or the 
price for which they are sold, may discharge these demands." But 
he most powerfully combats the more cruel doctrine laid down by 
Grotius, that the master has a right to take away the life of his 
slave.§ Bynkershoek, contends for the higher right of putting pri- 
soners of war to death : "We may however (enslave) if we please" 
he adds, "and indeed we do sometimes still exercise that right upon 
those who enforce it against us. Therefore the Dutch are in the 
habit of selling to the Spaniards as slaves, the Algerines, Tuni- 
sians and Tripolitans, whom they take prisoners in tflte Atlantic or 
Mediterranean. Nay, in the year 1661, the states general, gave 
orders to their admiral, to sell as slaves all the pirates that he should 
take. The same thing was done in 1664."|| Vattel, the most hu- 
mane of all the standard authors on National law, asks — " are pri- 
soners of war to be made slaves ?" To which he answers, " Yes ; 



* See Family Library, No. 16, p. 199. 

fL. 3, chap. 7, sec. 5. 

% Book 6, chap. 3. 

§Book, chap. 9, sec. 17. 

H Treatise on the Law of War, Du Ponceau's Edition, p. 21. 



19 

in cases which give a right to kill them, when they have rendered 
themselves personally guilty of some crime deserving death."* 
Even Locke, who has so ably explored all the faculties of the mind, 
and who so nobly stood forth against the monstrous and absurd 
doctrines of Sir Robert Filmer and the passive submissionists of his 
day, admits the right to make slaves of prisoners whom we might 
justly have killed. Speaking of a prisoner who has forfeited his 
life, he says, " he to whom he has forfeited it may, when he has him 
in his power, delay to take it, and make use of him to his own ser- 
vice, and he does him no injury by it."f Blackstone, it would 
seem, denies the right to make prisoners of war slaves; for he sa3'S 
we had no right to enslave unless we had the right to kill, and we 
had no right to kill, unless "in cases of absolute necessity, for 
self-defence; and it is plain this absolute necessity did not subsist, 
since the victor did not actually kill him, but made him prisoner."J 
Upon this we have to remark 1st. that Judge Blackstone here speaks 
of slavery in its pure unmitigated form, " whereby an unlimited 
power is given to the master over the life and fortune of the slave. "§ 
Slavery scarcely exists any where in this form, and if it did it would 
be a continuance of a state of war, as Rousseau justly observes, 
between the captive and the captor. Again — Blackstone, in his 
argument upon this subject, seems to misunderstand the grounds 
upon which civilians place the justification of slavery, as arising 
from the laws of war. It is well known that most of the horrors 
of war spring from the principle of retaliation, and not as Black- 
stone supposes, universally from " absolute necessity." If two ci- 
vilized nations of modern times are at war, and one hangs up with- 
out any justifiable cause all of the enemy who fall into its posses- 
sion, the other does not hesitate to inflict the same punishment upon 
an equal number of its prisoners. It is the " lex talionis" and not 
absolute necessity, which gives rise to this. 

The colonists of this country up to the revolution, during, and 
even since that epoch, have put to death the Indian captives, when- 
ever the Indians had been in the habit of massacreing indiscrimi- 
nately. It was not so much absolute necessity as the law of retali- 
ation, which justified this practice ; and, the civilians urge that the 
greater right includes the lesser; and, consequently, the right to 
kill involves the more humane and more useful right of enslaving. 
In point of fact, it would seem the Indians were often enslaved 
by the colonists. || And although we find no distinct mention made 
by any of the historians of the particular manner in which this sla- 
very arose, yet it is not difficult to infer that it must have arisen 
from the laws of war, being a commutation of the punishment of 
death for slavery. Again — if the nation with which you are at war 

* See Law of Nations, book 3, chap. 8, sec. 152. 

f On Civil Government, chap. 6. 

X See Tucker's Blackstone, vol. 2, p. 423. 

§ Blackstone's Commentaries, in loco citato. 

|| See Tucker's Blackstone, vol. 2, Appendix, note H. 



IVS 



20 

makes slaves of all your citizens falling into its possession, surely 
you have the right to retaliate and do so likewise. It is the " lex 
talionis" and not absolute necessity, which justifies you; and, if 
you should choose from policy to waive your right, your ability to 
do so would not surely prove that you. had no right at all to enslave. 
Such a doctrine as this would prove that the rights of belligerents, 
were in the inverse ratio of their strength — a doctrine which, pushed 
to the extreme, would always reduce the hostile parties to a precise 
equality — which is a perfect absurdity. If we were to suppose a 
civilized nation in the heart of Africa, surrounded by such princes 
as the King of Dahomey, there is no doubt but that such a nation 
would be justifiable in killing or enslaving at its option,- in time of 
war, and if it did neither, it would relinquish a perfect right 
We have now considered the most fruitful source of slavery, La 
of War, and shall proceed more briefly to the consideration of the 
other three which we have mentioned, taking up — 

2d. Stale of Property and Feebleness of Government. — In tra- 
cing the manners and customs of a people who have emerged from 
a state of barbarism, and examining into the nature and character 
of their institutions, we find it of the first importance to look to the 
condition of property, in order that we may conduct our inquiries 
with judgment and knowledge. The character of the govern- 
ment, in spite of all its forms, depends more on the condition of 
property, than on any one circumstance beside. The relations 
which the different classes of society bear towards each other, the 
distinction into high and low, noble and plebeian, in fact, depend 
almost exclusively upon the state of property. It may be with truth 
affirmed, that the exclusive owners of the property ever have been, 
ever will, and perhaps ever ought to be, the virtual rulers of man- 
kind. If then, in any age or nation, there should be but one spe- 
cies of property, and that should be exclusively owned by a portion 
of citizens, that portion would become inevitably the masters of 
the residue. And if the government should be so feeble as to 
leave each one in a great measure to protect himself, this circum- 
stance would have a tendency to throw the property into the hands 
of a few, who would rule with despotic sway over the many. And 
this was the condition of Europe during the middle ages, under 
what what was termed the feudal system. There was in fact, but 
one kind of property, and that consisted of land. Nearly all the 
useful arts had perished, — commerce and manufactures could scarce- 
ly be said to exist at all, and a dark night of universal ignorance 
enshrouded the human mind. The landholders of Europe, the 
feudal aristocrats, possessing all the property, necessarily and ine- 
vitably as fate itself, usurped all the power; and in consequence of 

* We shall hereafter see that our colony at Liberia may at some future day, be pla- 
ced in an extremely embarrassing condition from this very cause. It may not in future 
wars have strength sufficient to forego the exercise of the right of killing or enslaving, 
and if it have the strength, it may not have the mildness and humanity. Revenge is 
sweet, and the murder of a brother or father, and the slavery of a mother or sister will 
not easily be forgotten. 



21 

the feebleness of government, and the resulting necessity that each 
one should do justice for himself, the laws of primogeniture and 
entails were resorted to as a device to prevent the weakening of 
families by too great a subdivision or alienation of property, and 
from the same cause, small allodial proprietors were obliged to 
give up their small estates to some powerful baron or large land- 
holder in consideration of protection, which he would be unable to 
procure in any other manner.* Moreover, the great landholders 
of those days had only one way of spending their estates, even 
when they were not barred by entails, and that was by employing 
a large number of retainers, — for they could not then spend their 
estates as spendthrifts generally squander them, in luxuries and 
manufactures, in consequence of the rude state of the arts — all the 
necessities of man being supplied directly from the farms ;f and 
the great author of the wealth of nations, has most philosophical- 
ly remarked, that few great estates have been spent from benevo- 
lence alone. And the people of those days could find no employ- 
ment except on the land, and consequently were entirely dependent 
on the landlords, subject to their caprices and whims, paid accord- 
ing to their pleasure, and entirely under their control ; in fine, 
they were slaves complete. Even the miserable cities of the feudal 
times were not independent, but were universally subjected to the 
barons or great landholders, whose powerful protection against the 
lawless rapine of the times, could only be purchased by an entire 
surrender of liberty. J 

Thus the property of the feudal ages was almost exclusively of 
one kind. The feebleness of government, together with the laws 
of primogeniture and entails, threw that property into the hands 
of a feWj and the difficulty of alienation, caused by the absence of 
all other species of property, had a tendency to prevent that change 
of possession which we so constantly witness in modern times. — 
Never was there then perhaps so confirmed and so permanent an 
aristocracy as that of the feudal ages ; it naturally sprang from 
the condition of property and the obstacles to its alienation. The 
aristocracy alone embraced in those days the freemen of Europe ; 
all the rest were slaves, call them by what name you please, and 
doomed by the unchanging laws of nature to remain so till com- 
merce and manufactures had arisen and with them had sprung into 
existence a new class of capitalists, the tiers etat of Europe, whose 
existence first called for new forms of government, and whose ex- 
ertions either have or will revolutionize the whole of Europe. A 
revolution in the state of property is always a premonitory symp- 
tom of a revolution in government and in the state of society, and 

* Upon this subject, see Robertson's 1st vol. Hist. Charles 5th, Hallam's Middle 
Ages, Gilbert Stuart on the Progress of Society, and all the writers on feudal tenures. 

t "There is not a vestige to be discovered, for several centuries, of any considerable 
manufactures.". . ."Rich men kept domestic artisans among their servants; even kings in 
the ninth century, had their clothes made by the women upon their farms." — Hallam's 
Middle rfges, vol. 2, pp. 260, 261, Philad. Edition. 

i Upon this subject, see both Hallam and Robertson. 
4 



22 

without the one, you- cannot meet with permanent success in the 
other. The slaves of Southern Europe could never have been 
emancipated, except through the agency of commerce and manu- 
factures and the consequent rapid rise of cities, accompanied with 
a more regular and better protected industry, producing a vast 
augmentation in the products which administer 10 our necessities 
and comforts, and increasing in a proportionate degree the sphere 
of our wants and desires. In the same way we shall shew, before 
bringing this article to a close, that if the slaves of our Southern 
country shall ever be liberated and suffered to remain among us with 
their present limited wants and longing desire for a state of idle- 
ness, they would fall inevitably, by the nature of things, into a 
state of slavery from which no government could rescue them, un- 
less by a radical change of all their habits and a most awful and 
fearful change in the whole system of property throughout the 
country. The state of property then may fairly be considered a 
very fruitful source of slavery. It was the most fruitful source du- 
ring the feudal ages — it is the foundation of slavery throughout 
the Northeastern regions of Europe and the populous countries 
of the continent of Asia. We are even disposed to think, contra- 
ry to the general opinion, that the condition of property operated 
prior to the customs of war in the production of slavery. We are 
fortified in this opinion, by the example of Mexico and Peru in 
South America. In both of these empires, certainly the farthest 
advanced and most populous of the new world, "private proper- 
ty," says Dr. Robertson, " was perfectly understood, and estab- 
lished in its full extent." The most abject slavery existed in both 
these countries, and what still farther sustains our position, it very 
nearly, especially in Mexico, resembled that of the feudal ages. 
" The great body of the people was in a most humiliating state. A 
considerable number, known by the name of JVlayeques, nearly re- 
sembling in condition those peasants who, under various denomi- 
nations, were considered during the prevalence of the feudal sys- 
tem, as instruments of labor attached to the soil. Others were 
reduced to the lowest form of subjection, that of domestic servi- 
tude, and felt the utmost rigor of that wretched state."* 

Now, slavery in both these countries must have arisen from the 
state of property, for the laws of war were entirely too cruel to 
admit of the slavery of captives among the Mexicans. "They 
fought," says Dr. Robertson, " to gratify their vengeance, by shed- 
ding the bood of their enemies — no captive, was ever ransomed or 
spared. "f And the Peruvians, though much milder in war, seem 
not to have made slaves of their captives, though we must con- 
fess that there is great difficulty in explaining their great compara- 
tive clemency to prisoners in war, unless by supposing they were 
made slaves. J We have no doubt likewise, if we could obtain suffi- 

* Robertson's America, pp. 105, 107. t Ibid. voL, % p. 114. 

\ We are sorry we have not the means of satisfactorily investigating this subject. 
If slavery was established among them from the laws of war, it would be one of the 



23 

clem insight into the past history and condition of Africa, that sla- 
very would be found to have arisen in many of those countries, ra- 
ther from the state of property than the laws of war; for even to 
this day, many of the African princes are too cruel and sanguina- 
ry in war to forego the barbarous pleasure of murdering the cap- 
tives, and yet slavery exists in their dominions to its full extent. 

We will not here pause to examine into the justice or injustice 
of that species of slavery, which is sure to arise from a faulty dis- 
tribution of property, because it is the inevitable result of the great 
law of necessity, which itself has no law, and consequently about 
which it is utterly useless to argue. We will therefore proceed at 
once to the third cause assigned for slavery — bargain and sale. 

3d. Cause of Slavery, Bargain and Sale. — This source of sla- 
very might easily be reduced to that which depends on the state 
of property, but for the sake of perspicuity, we prefer keeping them 
apart. Adam Smith has well observed that there is a strong pro- 
pensity in man, " to truck, barter and exchange one thing for ano- 
ther," and both the parties generally intend to derive an advantage 
from the exchange. This disposition seems to extend to every 
thing susceptible of being impressed with the character of proper- 
ty or exchangeable value, or from which any great or signal 
advantage may be derived — it has been made to extend at times 
to life and liberty. Generals in time of war, have pledged their 
lives for the performance of their contracts. At the conclusion of 
peace, seroi-barbarous nations have been in the habit of interchang- 
ing hostages — generally the sons of princes and noblemen — for the 
mutual observance of treaties, whose lives were forfeited by a 
violation of the plighted faith; and in all ages, where the practice 
has not been interdicted by law, individuals have occasionally sold 
their own liberty or that of others dependent on them. W T e have 
already seen how the small allodial possessors, during the feudal 
ages, were obliged to surrender their lands and liberty to some 
powerful baron for that protection which could be procured in no 
other manner. Throughout the whole ancient world, the sale of 
one's own liberty, and even that of his children, was common. The 
non-payment of debts, or fadure to comply with contracts, fre- 
quently subjected the unfortunate offender to slavery in both Greece 
and Rome. Instances of slavery from bargain and sale, occur in 
Scripture. Joseph was sold to the lshmaelites for twenty pieces of 
silver, and carried down to Egypt in slavery. But this was a black 
and most unjustifiable act on the part of his envious brothers. — 
There are other parts of Scripture where the practice of buying 
and selling slaves seems to be justified. The Hebrew laws per- 
mitted the selling of even the Jews into slavery for six years. "If 
thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the 
seventh he shall go out free for nothing." And if the servant 

most triumphant examples which history affords of the effect of slavery, in mitigating 
the cruelties of war ; for it is a singular fact, that the Peruvians were the only people 
in the new world, who did not murder their prisoners. 



24 

chose at the expiration of six years to remain with his master as a 
slave, he might do so on having his ear bored through with an awl. 
It seems fathers could sell their children — Thus : " and if a man sell 
his daughter to be a maid servant, she shall not go out as the men 
servants do." # An unlimited right to purchase slaves from among 
foreigners seems to have been granted, whether they had been 
slaves or not before the purchase ; thus, in the twenty-fifth chap- 
ter of Leviticus, we find the following injunction: — "Both thy 
bondmen and bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of the hea- 
then that are round about you ; of them shall ye buy bondmen and 
bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of strangers who sojourn 
among you, of them shall ye buy, and of the families that are with 
you, which they begat in your land ; and they shall be your pos- 
session. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your chil- 
dren after you, to inherit- them for a possession ; they shall be your 
bondmen for ever." \ We may well suppose that few persons would 
ever be induced to sell themselves or children into slavery, unless 
under very severe pressure from want* Accordingly, we find the 
practice most prevalent among the most populous and the most sa- 
vage nations, where the people are most frequently subjected to 
dirths and famines. Thus, in Hindostan and China, there is no- 
thing more frequent than this practice of selling liberty. "Every 
year," said a Jesuit who resided in Hindostan, "we baptize a thou- 
sand children whom their parents can no longer feed, or who being 
likely to die, are sold to us by their mothers in order to get rid of 
them." The great legislator of Hindostan, Menu, in his ordi- 
nances, which are described by Sir William Jones, justifies this 
practice in time of scarcity. "Ajigarta," says Menu in one of 
his ordinances, " dying with hunger, was going to destroy his own 
son by selling him for some cattle ; yet he was guilty of no crime, 
for he only sought a remedy against famishing." "In China," 
says Duhalde, " a man sometimes sells his son, and even himself 
and wife at a very moderate price. The common mode is to mort- 
gage themselves with a condition of redemption, and a great num- 
ber of men and maid servants are thus bound in a family." There 
is no doubt but at this moment in every densely populated coun- 
try, hundreds would be willing to sell themselves into slavery if 
the laws would permit them, whenever they were pressed by famine. 
Ireland seems to be the country of modern Europe most subjected 
to these dreadful visitations. Suppose then, we reverse the vision 
of the Kentucky Senator,! and imagine that Ireland could be se- 
vered during those periods of distress from the Britannic Isle, and 
could float like the fabled Island of Delos across the Ocean and 
be placed by our side, and our laws should inhumanely forbid a 
single son of Erin from entering our territory unless as a slave, 
to be treated exactly like the African, is there any man acquaint- 

* See 21st chapter of Exodus, 
f 44, 45 and 46 verses. 



25 

ed with the state of the Irish, in years of scarcity, who would 
douht for a moment, but that thousands, much as this oppressed 
people are in love with liberty, would enter upon this hard condi- 
tion, if they could find purchasers. Indeed, the melancholy fact 
has too often occurred in Ireland, of individuals committing crimes 
merely for the purpose of being thrown into the houses of correc- 
tion, where they could obtain bread and water! 

Among- savages, famines are much more dreadful than among 
civilized nations, where they are provided against by previous ac- 
cumulation and commerce. Dr. Robertson has given us a glow- 
ing and no doubt correct picture of the dreadful ravages of famine 
among the North American Indians, and on such occasions we are 
informed by the "Lettres Kdifiantes et Curieuse," that the ties 
of nature are no longer binding. A father will sell his son for a 
knife or hatchet.* But, unfortunately, among savages in the hunt- 
ing state, scarcely any one can do more than maintain himself 
and one or two children, and therefore cannot afford to keep a 
slave. •-•■,■ 

If we turn to Africa, we shall find this cause of slavery frequent- 
ly operating with all its power ; and accordingly Parke has ranked 
Famine as the second among the four causes which he assigns for 
slavery in Africa. " There are many instances of freemen," says 
he, " voluntarily surrendering up their liberty to save their lives. 
During a great scarcity, which lasted for three years in the coun- 
tries of the Gambia, great numbers of people, became slaves in this 
manner. Dr. Laidley assured me, that at that time, many free- 
men came and begged with great earnestness, to be put upon Ids 
slave chain, to save them from perishing with hunger. Large fami- 
lies are very often exposed to absolute want, and as the parents 
have almost unlimited authority over their children, it frequently 
happens in all parts of Africa, that some of the latter are sold to 
purchase provisions for the rest of the family. When I was at 
Jarra, Damon Jumma pointed out to me three young slaves which 
he had purchased in this manner." f Bruce, in his travels in Afri- 
ca, saw whole villages and districts of country depopulated *by 
the famines which had visited them, and gives us a most appalling 
picture of the walking skeletons and lawless rapine which were 
every where exhibited during those frightful periods of distress. — 
We cannot wonder then, under these circumstances, that famine 
should be a fruitful source of slavery, by giving rise to a sale of 
liberty for the preservation of life. 

The remark of Judge Blackstone as to this kind of slavery is 
known to every one — that every sale implies a " quid pro quo" — 
but that in the case of slavery there can be no equivalent, no quid 
pro quo — for nothing is an equivalent for liberty ; and even the pur- 
chase money, or the price whatever it might be, would instantly be- 

* Tom. 8. 

t Parke's Travels in Africa, chap. 22, page 216, N. Y. Edition. 



26 

long to the master of the slave.* Upon this we would remark, that 
Blackstone seems to have his attention fixed exclusively on those 
countries where every man can easily maintain himself, and where 
consequently his life can never be in jeopardy from want. If there 
is any country in the world to which his argument will apply, that 
country is ours. We believe every man here may obtain a subsis- 
tence, either by his own exertions or by the aid of the poor rates. 
But this is far from being the case with semi-barbarous or densely 
populated countries. Again — Blackstone alludes to that pure state 
of slavery where, a man's life, liberty and property, are at the mercy 
of his master. That is far from being the condition of slavery now. 
In most parts of the world the slave is carefully protected in life, 
limb and .even in a moderate share of liberty, by the policy of the 
laws; and his nourishment and subsistence are positively enjoined. 
Where this is the case, we can imagine many instances in which li- 
berty might have an equivalent. Who for a moment can doubt but 
that the abundant daily supplies of subsistence, consisting of whol- 
somemenl, bread, and frequently vegetables and refreshing drinks be- 
sides, which are furnished to our slaves, are more than an equivalent 
for the liberty of the Chinese laborer, who exhausts himself with hard 
labor — feeds on his scanty and unseasoned rice, — tastes no whole- 
some meat from the beginning to the end of the toilsome year, — 
sees his family frequently perishing before his eyes, or more cruel 
still, consents himself to be the executioner, in order that he may 
release them from the intolerable torments of unsatisfied wants, and 
who, even in seasons of ordinary supply, fishes up with eagerness 
the vilest garbage from the river or canal, and voraciously devours 
meat which with us would be left to be fed on by the vultures of the 
air. The fact is, the laborer in this hard condition is already a 
slave, or rather in a situation infinitely worse than slavery — he is 
subjected to all the hardships and degradation of the slave and de- 
rives none of the advantages. In the case of famine, the equivalent 
seems to be life for liberty ; and when this is the case, although the 
philosopher may consider death as preferable to slavery — "yet," 
says Parke, "the poor negro when fainting with hunger thinks like 
Esau of old, " behold I am at the point to die, and what profit shall 
this birthright do to wze." The reason why persons do not more 
frequently sell themselves into slavery is, because they are forbid- 
den by the laws, or can find no purchasers. So far from persons 
not selling their liberty because there is no equivalent, it is directly 
the contrary in most countries ; the price or equivalent, consisting 
of continued support, protection, &c. is too great — more than can 
be afforded. The capitalist in Great-Britain, could not afford to 
purchase the operative and treat trim as we do the slave ; the price 
paid, the quid pro quo of Blackstone would be more than the liber- 
ty would be worth. We have no doubt, if the English laws were 
to allow of slavery, such as we have in this country, there would 

t Tucker's Blackstone, vol. 2, page 423. 



27 

be many more persons wishing to sell their liberty than of 
those wishing- to buy J But whether the remarks of Judge 
Blackstone are correct in theory or not, is a matter of no prac- 
tical importance ; for in point of fact, as we have shewn by 
undeniable testimony, bargain and sale have ever been a most 
fruitful source of slavery in ancient times, and among many peo- . 
pie of the present day ; and consequently we could not pretermit 
it in a general survey of the sources of slavery. We shall now 
proceed to a consideration of the last mentioned source of slavery. 

4th. Crime. — All governments, even those of the States of our 
confederacy, have ever been considered as* perfectly justifiable in 
enslaving for crime. All our penitentiaries are erected upon this 
principle, and slavery in them, of the most abject and degrading 
character, endures for a certain number of months, years, or for 
life, according to the offence. In South America and Russia the 
criminals are frequently sentenced to slavery in the mines, and in 
France and England to the gallies and work houses ; but as it is 
principally with domestic slavery that we are concerned in this 
article, we shall not consider farther that which is of a public cha- 
racter. 

Throughout the ancient world, domestic slavery, arising from 
crime, seems to have been very common. We have already spo- 
ken of the slavery which was inflicted frequently on insolvent debtors 
in both Greece and Rome. In Africa too, we find insolvency a 
very frequent source of slavery. " Of all the offences," says 
Parke, " if insolvency may be so called, to which the laws of Afri- 
ca have affixed the punishment of slavery, this is the most com- 
mon. A negro trader commonly contracts debts on some mercan- 
tile speculation, either from his neighbors to purchase such articles 
as will sell to advantage in a distant market, or from the Europe- 
an traders on the coast — payment to be made in a given time. In 
both cases, the situation of the adventurer is exactly the same: if 
he succeeds, he may secure an independency ; if he is unsuccessful, 
his person and services are at the disposal of another — for in Africa 
not only the effects of the insolvent, but the insolvent himself, is 
sold to satisfy the lawful demands of his creditors."* Insolvency 
however, is, after all. rather a misfortune than a crime ; and we 
rank it here as a crime more in deference to the institutions of the 
ancients and the customs of certain modern nations, than as an in- 
dication of our own sentiments — for we are decidedly of opinion, 
that slavery is much too high a penalty to be attached to what in 
many cases is sheer misfortune. But besides insolvency, the laws 
of Africa affix slavery as a punishment to the crimes of murder, 
adultery and witchcraft. In case of murder, the nearest relation of 
the murdered, after conviction, may either kill or sell into slavery 
at his option. In adultery, the offended party may enslave or de- 
mand a ransom at pleasure ; and as to witchcraft, Parke not hav- 
ing met with any trial for this offence, could only assure us that it 

* Parke's Travels in Africa, p. 2 J 6. 



28 

was a source of slavery, though not common.* We have now sur- 
veyed the principal sources of slavery, and although we do not 
pretend to be minute and complete in the division which we have 
made, we hope we have said enough upon this branch to shew that 
slavery is inevitable in the progress of society, from its first and 
most savage state to the last and most refined. We started out 
with announcing the fact, startling to those who have never reflect- 
ed upon the subject, that slavery existed throughout the whole of 
the ancient, and in a very large portion of the modern world. We 
have farther shewn by the preceding reasoning, that this was no 
accident, the mere result of chance, but was a necessary and inevita- 
ble consequence of the principles of human nature and the state of 
property. We shall now proceed to inquire briefly into the ad- 
vantages which have resulted to mankind from the institution of 
slavery. 

Advantages which have resulted to the world from the institution 
of Slavery. — When we turn our thoughts from this world "of im- 
perfections"to the God of nature, we love to contemplate him as 
perfect and immaculate, and amid all the divine attributes with 
which we delight to clothe him, none stands more conspicuous 
than his benevolence. To look upon him in this light, may be said 
to be almost the impulse of an instinct of our nature, and the most 
enlarged experience and perfect knowledge combine in fortifying 
and strengthening this belief. Accordingly, when we look abroad 
to the works of omnipotence— when we contemplate the external, 
the physical world— and again, when we turn to the world of mind, 
we never find evil the sole object and end of creation. Happiness 
is always the main design, evil is merely incidental. All the laws 
of matter, every principle, and even passion of man, when rightly 
understood, demonstrate the general benevolence of the Deity, 
even in this world. " It is perhaps," says Mr. Allison, " the most 
striking and the most luminous fact in the history of our intellec- 
tual nature, that that principle of curiosity which is the instinctive 
spring of all scientific inquiryinto the phenomena of matter or of 
mind, is never satisfied until it terminates in the discovery not only 
of design, but of benevolent design." Well then might we have 
concluded, from the fact that slavery was the necessary result of 
the laws of mind and matter, that it marked some benevolent design, 
and was intended by our Creator for some useful purpose. Let us 
inquire then what that useful purpose is, and we have no hesita- 
tion in affirming, that slavery has been perhaps the principal 
means for impelling forward the civilization of mankind. Without 
its agency, society must have remained sunk into that deplorable 
state of barbarism and wretchedness which characterized the inha- 
bitants of the western world, when first discovered by Columbus. 

We have already spoken of the great advantage of slavery in miti- 
gating the horrors of savage warfare ; but not only is this most 

* Parke's Travels, p. 217. 



20 

desirable effect produced, but it has a farther tendency to check 
the frequency of war, and to destroy that migratory spirit in na- 
tions and tribes, so destructive to the peace and tranquillity of the 
world. Savages living in the hunter's state, must have an exten- 
sive range of country for the supply of the wants of even a few 
persons. " Hence, 1 ' says Dr. Robertson, "it is of the utmost im- 
portance to prevent neighboring tribes from destroying or disturb- 
ing the game in their hunting grounds they guard this national 
property with a jealous attention. But as their territories are ex- 
tensive, and the boundaries of them not exactly ascertained, innu- 
merable subjects of disputes arise, which seldom terminate without 
bloodshed."* Uncertain boundaries, constant roaming through 
the forest in search of game, and all the unchecked and furious 
passions of the savage, lead on to constant and exterminating wars 
among the tribes. What then, let us ask, can alone prevent this 
constant scene of strife and massacre ? Nothing but that which 
can bind them down to the soil, which can establish homes and fire- 
sides, which can change the wandering character of the savage, 
and make it his interest to cultivate peace instead of war. Slave- 
ry produces these effects : it necessarily leads" on to the taming 
and rearing of numerous flocks, and to the cultivation of the soil. 
Hunting can never support slavery. Agriculture first suggests 
the notion of servitude, and, as often happens in the politico-eco- 
nomical world, the effect becomes in turn a powerfully operating 
cause. Slavery gradually fells the forest, and thereby destroys the 
haunts of the wild beasts— it gives rise to agricultural production, 
and thereby renders mankind less dependent on the precarious and 
diminishing production of the chase — it thus gradually destroys 
the roving and unquiet life of the savage — it furnishes a home and 
binds him down to the soil — it converts the idler and the wanderer 
into the man of business and the agriculturist. 

If we look to the condition of Africa, and compare it with that 
of the American Indians, we shall find a complete illustration of 
these remarks, and Africa, as we shall soon see, would enjoy a 
much greater exemption from war, if it were not for the slave 
trade, whose peculiar operation we shall presently notice. 

But secondly, the labor of the slave when slavery is first in- 
troduced, is infinitely more productive than that of the freeman. 
Dr. Robertson, in his history of America, speaks of the acquisition 
of dominion over the inferior animals, as a step of capital impor- 
tance in the progress of civilization. It may with {ruth be affirm- 
ed, that the taming of man and rendering him fit for labor, is more 
important than the taming and using the inferior animals, and no- 
thing seems so well calculated to effect this as slavery. Savages 
have ever been found to be idle and unproductive — except in the 
chase. The Aborigines of North America resembled rather beasts 
of prey, says Dr. Robertson, than animals formed for labor. They 

* History of America, vol. 1, p. 192 
5 



30 

were not only averse from toil, but seemed at first entirely incapa- 
ble of it. There is nothing which so completely proves the gene- 
ral indolence and inactivity of the Indians, as their very moderate 
appetites. Their constitutional temperance exceeded that of the 
most mortified hermits, and the appetites of the Spaniards (gene- 
rally reckoned very temperate in Europe,) appeared to the natives 
insatiably voracious, and they affirmed that one Spaniard devour- 
ed in a day more food than was enough for ten Indians.* 

The improvidence and utter recklessness of the savage are noticed 
too by all the historians. " They follow blindly," says Robertson, 
"the impulse of the appetite which they feel, but are entirely re- 
gardless of distant consequences, and even of'those removed iu the 
least degree from immediate apprehension. When on the approach 
of evening, a Carabee feels himself disposed to go to rest, no con- 
sideration will tempt him to sell his hammock. But in the morn- 
ing, when he is sallying out to the business or pastime of the day, 
he will part with it for the slightest toy that catches his fancy. At 
the close of winter, while the impression of what he has suffered 
from the rigor of the climate is fresh in the mind of the North 
American, he sets himself with vigor to prepare materials for erect- 
ing a comfortable hut to protect him against the inclemency of the 
succeeding season ; but as soon as the weather becomes mild, he 
forgets what is past, abandons his work, and never thinks of it 
more, until the return of cold compels him when too late to re- 
sume it."f There is nothing but slavery which can destroy those 
habits of indolence and sloth, and eradicate the character of im- 
providence and carelessness which mark the independent savage. 
He may truly be compared to the wild beast of the forest— he must 
be broke and tamed before he becomes fit for labor and for the 
task of rearing and providing for a family. There is nothing but 
slavery which can effect this — the means may appear exceedingly 
harsh and cruel — and, as among wild beasts many may die in the 
process of taming and subjugating, so among savages many may 
not be able to stand the hardships of servitude ; but in the end, it 
leads on to a milder and infinitely better condition than that of 
savage independence, gives rise to greater production, increases 
the provisions in nature's great storehouse, and invites into exis- 
tence a more numerous population, better fed and better provided ; 
and thus gives rise to society, and consequently speeds on more 
rapidly the cause of civilization. But upon this great, this deli- 
cate and all important subject, we wish to risk no vain theories, 
no unfounded conjectures — from beginning to end we shall speak 
conscientiously, and never knowingly plant in our bosom a thorn 
which may rankle there. 

Let us then see, whether the above assertions may not be satis- 
factorily proved, paradoxical as they may at first appear, by fact 

* Robertson's America, vol. 1, book 4. 
f History of America, vol 1, pp. 170, 171. 



3i 

and experience. If we turn to the Western world, where an ample 
field is presented for the contemplation of man in his first and ru- 
dest state, we find that slavey existed no where throughout the 
American continent except in Peru and Mexico, and these were 
decidedly the most flourishing portions of this vast continent.-^— 
" When compared," says Dr. Robertson, " with other parts of the 
new world, Mexico and Peru may be considered as polished states. 
Instead of small independent hostile tribes, struggling for subsis- 
tence amidst woods and marshes, strangers to industry and arts, 
unacquainted with subordination, and almost without the appear- 
ance of regular government, we find countries of great extent sub- 
jected to the dominion of one sovereign, the inhabitants collected 
together in cities, the wisdom and foresight of rulers employed in 
providing for the maintenance and security of the people, the em- 
pire of laws in some measure established, the authority of religion 
recognized, many of the arts essential to life brought to some de- 
gree of maturity, and the dawn of such as are ornamental begin- 
ning to appear."* 

Again, in the Islands of the South Sea, Captain Cook was as- 
tonished at the populousness of Otaheite and the Society Islands. 
Slavery seems to have been established through these Islands, and 
compensated no doubt in part for many of those abominable prac- 
tices which seem to have been prevalent among the natives. 

Again, on turning to Africa, where we find the most abundant 
and complete exemplification of every species of slavery and its 
effects, and where consequently the philosophy of the subject may 
be most advantageously studied, we find most conclusive proof of 
our assertions. " It deserves particular notice, that the nations in 
this degrading condition (state of slavery) are the most numerous, 
the most powerful, and the most advanced in all the arts and improve- 
ments of life ; that if we except the human sacrifices to which blind 
veneration prompts them, they display even a disposition more 
amiable, manners more dignified and polished, and moral conduct 
more correct, than prevail among the citizens of the small free 
states, who are usually idle, turbulent, quarrelsome and licen- 
tious. "f The Africans too, display in a remarkable degree the 
love of home and fondness for their native scenes — a mark of consi- 
derable advancement in civilization. " Few of them," says the author 
of the history of Africa just quoted, " are nomadic and wandering : 
they generally have native seats, to which they cling with strong 
feelings of local attachment. Even the tenants of the Desert, who 
roam widely in quest of commerce and plunder, have their little 
watered valleys or circuit of hills, in which they make their per- 
manent abode." J Can any general facts more strikingly illustrate 
our positions than those which have been just mentioned. 

But there is other and abundant testimony on this subject; the 

♦Robertson's America, vol. 2, p. 101. 

t See Family Library, No. 16, p. 237, Africa. 

| Family Library, No. 16, p. 228. 



32 

difference between the negroes imported into the West Indies, still 
farther substantiates all we have said. The negroes from Whida 
or Fida, called in the West Indies Papaws, are the best disposed 
and most docile slaves. The reason seems to be, that the great 
majority of these people are in a state of absolute slavery in Afri- 
ca, and " Bosman," says Bryan Edwards, "speaks with rapture of 
the improved state of their soil, the number of villages, and the 
industry, riches, and obliging manners of the natives."* So that 
slavery seems to be an incalculable advantage to them — both in the 
West Indies and in their own country, 

The Koromantyn or Gold Coast negro, is generally stubborn, 
intractable and unfit for labor at first. His habits in his native 
country are very similar to those of the North American Indian ; 
he must be broke and tamed before he is fit for labor. When they 
are thus tamed however, they become the best laborers in the West 
Indies. " They sometimes," says Bryan Edwards, "take to la- 
bor with great promptitude and alacrity, and have constitutions 
well adapted to it." And he gives as a reason for this, that " ma- 
ny of them have undoubtedly been slaves in Africa." Still this 
country seems yet too barbarous for a regular system of slavery. 
Accordingly, the Koromantyns are described as among the most 
ferocious of the Africans in war, never sparing the life of an ene- 
my except to make him a slave, and that but rarely. Their whole 
education and philosophy consequently seem directed, as is the 
case with all savages, to prepare and steel them against the awful 
vicissitudes to which they are ever liable — they have their yell of 
war, and their death songs too. Nothing but slavery can civilize 
such beings, give them habits of industry, and make them cling to 
life for its enjoyments. f 

Strange as it may seem, we have little hesitation in declaring it 
as our opinion, that a much greater number of Indians within the 
limits of the United States would have been saved, had we rigidly 
persevered in enslaving them, than by our present policy. It is 
perhaps the most melancholy fact connected with the history of our 
young republic, that in proportion as the whites have been advan- 
cing, the Indians have been constantly and rapidly decreasing in 
numbers. When our ancestors first settled on this continent, the 
savages were around and among them, and were every where spread 
over this immense territory. Now where are they! Where are the 
warlike tribes that w T entto battle under their chieftains? They have 
rapidly disappeared, as the pale faces have advanced. Their num- 
bers have dwindled to insignificance. Within the limits of the ori- 

* Edwards' West Indies, vol. 2, pp. 278, 279. 

f This increasing love of life, as an effect of slavery, is exemplified in the following- 
anecdote related by Edwards : " A gentleman of Jamaica, visiting a valuable Kora- 
mantyn negro that was sick, and perceiving that he was thoughtful and dejected, en- 
deavored by soothing and encouraging language, to raise his drooping spirits. Massa, 
said the negro, in a tone of self reproach and conscious degeneracy, since me come to 
ivhite man's country, me lub (love) life too much." — History of the West Indies, vol. 2, 
p. 275. 



33 

ginal states, the primitive stock has been reduced to 16,000. With- 
in the whole United States East of the Mississippi, there are but 
105,000 ; and on the whole of our territory East and West of the 
Mississippi, extending over 24 degrees of lat. and 58 of Ion. there 
are but 313,130! ! Miserable remnant of the myriads of former 
days ! And yet the government of our country has exhausted every 
means for their civilization, and the philanthropist has not been idle 
in their behalf. Schools have been erected both public and private; 
missionaries have been sent among them ; and all in vain. The 
President of the United States now tells you, that their removal 
farther to the West is necessary — that those who live on our bor- 
ders, in spite of all our efforts to civilize them, are rapidly deterio- 
rating in character, and becoming every day more miserable and 
destitute. We agree with the President in this policy — to remove 
them is all we can now do for them. But after all, the expedient 
is temporary, and the relief is short lived. Our population will 
again, and at no distant day, press upon their borders — their game 
will be destroyed — the intoxicating beverage will be furnished to 
them — they will engage in wars, and their total extermination will 
be the inevitable consequence. The handwriting has indeed ap- 
peared on the wall. The mysterious decree of Providence has 
gone forth against the red man — his destiny is fixed, and final de- 
struction is his inevitable fate. Slavery, we assert again, seems to 
be the only means that we know of, under Heaven, by which the 
ferocity of the savage can be conquered, his wandering habits 
eradicated, his slothfulness and improvidence overcome — by which, 
in fine, his nature can be changed. The Spaniards enslaved the 
Indians in South America, and they were the most cruel and re- 
lentless of masters. Still, under their system of cruel and harsh 
discipline, an infinitely larger proportion of the Aborigines were 
saved than with us, and will no doubt, in the lapse of ages, mix 
and harmonize with the Europeans, and be in all respects their 
equals.* 

From their inhuman treatment of the Indians at first, numbers 
died in the process of taming and subjugating ; but in the end, 
their system has proved more humane than ours, and demonstrates 
beyond a doubt, that nothing is so fit as slavery to change the na- 
ture of the savage, -j- "We observe," says Humboldt, " and the 
observation is consoling to humanity, that not only has the num- 

* Humboldt, in his recapitulation of the population of New Spain, gives us the fol- 
lowing table : 

Indigenous or Indians, 2,500,000 

Whites or Spaniards, . . . \ g reoles > 1,0 Bn'SSS \ • — 1,100,000 

1 ' ( Europeans, 70,000 ) ' ' 

African Negroes, 6,100 

Casts of Mixed Blood, 1,231,000 

[Humboldt's New Spain, N. Y. Edition, vol. 2, p. 246. 
Again, the number of Indians in Peru is estimated at 600,000, nearly double of the 
whole Indian population of the United States. — [Vol. 1, p. 69. 

t We shall soon see that there is not in the annals of history, an instance of such ra- 
pid improvement in civilization, as that undergone by the negro slaves in our country, 
since the time they were first brought among us. 



34 

ber of Indians in South America and Mexico, been on the increase 
for the last century, (he published his work in 1808,) but that the 
whole of the vast region which we designate by the general name 
of New Spain, is much better inhabited at present, than it was be- 
fore the arrival of the Europeans."* He gives a very remarkable 
instance of the effects of even unjust slavery on the industry and 
agriculture of the country. He speaks of the Alcaldias Mayores, 
a sort of provincial magistrates and judges la Mexico, forcing the 
Indians to purchase cattle of them, and afterwards reducing them 
to slavery for non-payment of the debts thus contracted, and he 
adds, upon the authority of Fray Antonio, Monk of St. Jerome, 
that " the individual happiness of these unfortunate wretches was 
not certainly increased by the sacrifice of their liberty for a horse 
or a mule to work for their master's profit. But yet in the midst 
of this state of things, brought on by abuses, agriculture and indus- 
try v;ere seen to increase ."f 

We beg our readers to bear in mind, that we are here merely 
discussing the effects of slavery, and not passing our opinions upon 
the justice or injustice of its origin. We shall now close our re- 
marks upon this head, by the citation of an instance furnished by 
our own country, of the great advantage of slavery to masters — for 
among savages the. benefit seems to extend to both master and 
slave. There is an able article in the 66th number of the North 
American Review, on the " Removal of the Indians," from the 
pen of Governor Cass, whom we have no hesitation, from the lit- 
tle we have seen of his productions, to pronounce one of the most 
philosophical and elegant writers in this country. In this article, 
after pointing out the true condition of the Indian tribes in the 
neighborhood of the whites, and proving beyond a doubt that they 
are injured instead of benefitted by their juxtaposition, he ad- 
mits that the Cherokees constitute a solitary and but a partial ex- 
ception — that some individuals among them have acquired proper- 
ty, and with it more enlarged and just notions of the value of our 
institutions. He says that these salutary changes are confined 
principally to the half breeds and their immediate connexions, and 
are not sufficiently numerous to overturn his reasoning against the 
practicability of civilizing the Indians. Now what are the causes 
of this dawn of civilization among the Cherokees? "The causes 
which have led to this state of things," says Governor Cass, "are 
too peculiar ever to produce an extensive result. . . . They have 
been operating for many years, and among the most prominent of 
them, has been the introduction of slaves, by which means, that un- 
conquerable aversion to labor, so characteristic of all savage tribes, 
can be indulged. "J 

* Humboldt's New Spain, vol. 1, p. 71. f Vol. 1, pp. 146, 147. 

X See North American Review, No. 66, article 3. The Spaniards when they first 
conquered Mexico and Peru, were, as we have already said, the most cruel and relent- 
less of masters. They are now the most humane and kind, and perhaps the Portu- 
guese come next, who were equally cruel with the Spaniards during the first century 
after their settlement in the new world. 



35 

We hope now we have said enough to convince even the most 
sceptical, of the powerful effects of slavery, in changing the hahits 
peculiar to the Indian or savage, by converting him into the agri- 
culturist, and changing his slothfuhiess and aversion to labor into 
industry and economy, thereby rendering his labor more produc- 
tive, his means of subsistence more abundant and regular, and his 
happiness more secure and constant. We cannot close our remarks 
on the general effects of slavery on the progress of civilization, 
without pointing out its peculiar influence on that portion of the 
human race which the civilized nations of modern times so much 
delight to honor and to cherish — the fair sex. 

3d. Influence of Slavery on the condition of the female sex. — The 
bare name of this interestiug half of the human family, is well cal- 
culated to awaken in the breast of the generous, the feeling of ten- 
derness and kindness. The wrongs and sufferings of meek, quiet, 
forbearing woman, awaken the generous sympathy of every noble 
heart. Man never suffers without murmuring, and never relinquish- 
es his rights without a struggle. It is not always so with woman : 
her physical weakness incapacitates her for the combat : her sexual 
organization, and the part which she takes in bringing forth and 
nurturing the rising generation, render her necessarily domestic in 
her habits, and timid and patient in her sufferings. If man choose 
to exercise his power against woman, she is sure to fall an easy 
prey to his oppression. Hence, we may always consider her pro- 
gressing elevation in society, as a mark of advancing civilization, 
and more particularly of the augmentation of disinterested and ge- 
nerous virtue. The lot of women among savages has always been 
found to be painful and degrading. Doctor Robertson says that 
in America their condition {t is so peculiarly grievous, and their 
depression so complete, that servitude is a name too mild to des- 
cribe their wretched state. A wife among most tribes is no better 
than a beast of burthen, destined to every office of labor and fa- 
tigue. While the men loiter out the day in sloth, or spend it in" 
amusement, the women are condemned to excessive toil. Tasks 
are imposed on them without pity, and services are received with- 
out complacence or gratitude. Every circumstance reminds women 
of this mortifying inferiority. They must approach their lords with 
reverence. They must regard them as more exalted beings and are 
not permitted to eat in their presence. There are districts in Ame- 
rica where this dominion is so grievous, and so sensibly felt, that 
some women in a wild emotion of maternal tenderness, have des- 
troyed their female children in their infancy, in order to deliver 
them from that intolerable bondage to which they knew they were 
doomed."* 

This harrowing description of woman's servitude and sufferings 
among the Aborigenes of America, is applicable to all savage na- 
tions. In the Islands of Andaman, in Van Diemen's Land, in New 

* Robertson's America, vol. I, p. 176. 



36 

^Zealand* and New Holland, the lot of woman is the same. The 
females carry on their heads and bodies, the traces of the superio- 
rity of the males. Mr. Collins says of the women of N. S. Wales, 
'* Their condition is so wretched, that I have often, on seeing a fe- 
male child borne on its mother's shoulders, anticipated the miseries 
to which it was born, and thought it would be mercy to destroy it." 
And thus is it, that the most important of all connexions, the mar- 
riage tie, is perverted to the production of the degradation and mi- 
sery of the one sex, and the arrogant assumption and unfeeling cru- 
elty of the other. But the evil stops not with the sufferings of wo- 
man — her prolificness is in a measure destroyed." Unaided by the 
male in the rearing of her children, and being forced to bear them 
on her shoulders when the huntsmen are roaming through the forest, 
many of their offspring must die, from the vicissitudes to which they 
are subjected at so tender an age. Moreover " among wandering 
tribes," says Dr. Robertson, " the mother cannot attempt to rear 
a second child until the first has attained such a degree of vigour 
as to be in some measure independent of her care." . . . "When 
twins are born one of them is commonly abandoned, because the 
mother is not equal to the task of rearing both. When a mother 
dies while she is nursing a child, all hope of preserving its life fails, 
and it is buried together with her in the same grave. "f 

It is not necessary that we should continue farther this shocking 
picture, but let us proceed at once to inquire if the institution of 
slavery is not calculated to relieve the sufferings and wrongs of in- 
jured woman, and elevate her in the scale of existence? Slavery we 
have just seen changes the hunting into the shepherd and agricul- 
tural states — gives rise to augmented productions, and consequently 
furnishes more abundant supplies for man : the labor of the slave 
thus becomes a substitute for that of the woman : man no longer 
wanders through the forest in quest of gain ; and woman, conse- 
quently, is relieved from following on his track, under the enerva- 
ting and harassing burthen of her children: She is now surround- 
ed by her domestics, and the abundance of their labor lightens the 
toil and hardships of the whole family; she ceases to be a mere 
"beast of burthen" — becomes the cheering and animating centre of 
the family circle — time is afforded for reflection and the cultivation 
of all those mild and fascinating virtues, which throw a charm and 
delight around our homes and firesides, and calm and tranquillize 
the harsher tempers and more restless propensities of the male: 
Man too, relieved from that endless disquietude about subsistence 
for the morrow — relieved of the toil of wandering over the forest — 
more amply provided for by the productions uf the soil — finds his 
habits changed, his temper moderated, his kindness and benevolence 
increased; he loses that savage and brutal feeling which he had be- 

*In New Zealand agriculture has worked a most wonderful change in the lot of wo- 
man. She is now more respected and loved. — [See Library of Entertaining Knowledge, 
vol. 5, „Veto Zealanders. 

| Robertson's America, vol. 1, p. 177. 



37 

fore indulged towards all his unfortunate dependents ; and conse- 
quently even the slave, in the agricultural, is happier than the free 
man in the hunting state. 

In the very first remove from the most savage state, we behold 
the marked effects of slavery on the condition of woman — we find 
her at once elevated, clothed with all her charms, mingling with 
and directing the society to which she belongs, no longer the slave, 
but the equal and the idol of man. The Greeks and Trojans, at 
the siege of Troy, were in this state, and some of the most inter- 
esting and beautiful passages in the Iliad relate to scenes of social 
intercourse and conjugal affection, where woman, unawed and in all 
the pride of conscious equality, bears a most conspicuous part. — 
Thus, Helen and Andromache, are frequently represented as ap- 
pearing in company with the Trojan chiefs, and mingling freely iu 
conversation with them. Attended only by one or two maid ser- 
vants, they walk through the streets of Troy, as business or fancy 
directs : even the prudent Penelope, persecuted as she is by her 
suitors, does not scruple occasionally to appear among them; and 
scarcely more reserve seems to be imposed on virgins than married 
women. Mitford, has well observed, that "Homer's elegant eulo- 
giums and Hesiod's severe sarcasm, equally prove women to have 
been ill their days important members of society. The character 
of Penelope in the Odyssee, is the completest panegyric on the sex 
that ever was composed; and no language can give a more elegant 
or more highly coloured picture of conjugal affection, than is dis- 
played in the conversations of Hector and Andromache, in the 6th 
book of the Iliad."* 

The Teutonic races who inhabited the mountains and fastnesses 
of Germany were similarly situated to the Greeks, and even before 
they left their homes to move down upon the Roman Empire, they 
were no more distinguished by their deeds in arms, than for devo- 
tion and attention to the weaker sex: So much were they character- 
ized by this elevation of the female sex, that Gilbert Stuart does not 
hesitate to trace the institution of chivalry, whose origin has never 
yet been satisfactorily illustrated, to the German manners. f 

Again — if we. descend to modern times, we see much the largest 
portion of Africa existing in this second stage of civilizotion, and 
consequently we find woman in an infinitely better condLtioti, than 
we any where find her among the Aborigines on the A.ti i lean con- 
tinent. And thus is it a most singular and curious fact, that woman, 
whose sympathies are ever alive to the distresses of others, whose 
heart is filled with benevolence and philanthropy, and whose fine 
feelings unchecked by considerations of interest or calculations of 
remote consequences, have ever prompted to embrace with eager- 
ness even the wildest and most destructive schemes of emancipa- 
tion, has been in a most peculiar and eminent degree indebted to 

*See Mitford's Greece, vol. 1, pp. 166, 167, Boston Edition. 

tSee Stuart's View of Society, particularly book 1, chap. 2, sec, 4 and 5. 

6 



38 



^// 



slavery for that very elevation in society which first raised her to an 
equality with man. We will not stop here to investigate the ad- 
vantages resulting from the ameliorated condition of woman: her 
immense influence on the destiny of our race is acknowledged by 
all: upon her must ever devolve in a peculiar degree the duty of 
rearing into manhood a creature in its infancy, the frailest and fee- 
blest which heaven has made— of forming the plastic mind — of train- 
ing the ignorance and imbecility of infancy, into virtue and effici- 
ency. "There is perhaps no moral power the magnitude of which 
swells so far beyond the grasp of calculation as the influence of ihe 
female character on the virtues and happiness of mankind: it is so 
searching, so versatile, so multifarious and so universal : it turns 
on us like the eye of a beautiful portrait wherever we take our po- 
sition : it bears upon us in such an infinite variety of points, on our 
instincts, our passions, our vanity, our tastes and our necessities ; 
above all on the first impressions of education and the associations 
of infancy." The role which woman should act in the great drama 
of life is truly an important and an indispensable one — it must and 
will be acted, and that too, either for our weal or woe: All must 
wish then that she should be guided by virtue, intelligence and the 
purest affection — which can only be secured by elevating, honour- 
ing and loving her in whose career we feel so deep an interest. 

We have thus traced out the origin and progress of slavery, and 
pointed out its effects in promoting the civilization of mankind. We 
should next proceed to an investigation of those causes of a gene- 
ral character which have a tendency in the progress of society gra- 
dually to remove and extinguish slavery, but these we shall have 
such frequent opportunities of noticing in the sequel, while discus- 
sing various schemes of abolition that have been proposed, that we 
have determined to omit their separate consideration. 

We shall now proceed to inquire into the origin df slavery in 
the United States. 

It is well known to all at all conversant with the history of our 
county, that negro slavery in the United States, the West India 
Islands and South America, was originally derived from the Afri- 
can slave trade, by which the African negro was torn from his 
home, and transferred to the Western hemisphere, to live out his 
days in bondage ; we shall briefly advert — First, to the origin and 
progress of this trade — Secondly, to its effects on Africa ; and last- 
ly, to the consideration of the part which the United States have 
taken in this traffic, and the share of responsibility which must 
be laid at their door. 

1st. Origin and Progress of the African Slave Trade. — This 
trade, which seems so shocking to the feelings of mankind, dates its 
origin as far back as to the year 1442: Antony Gonzales, a' Por- 
tuguese mariner, while exploring the coast of Africa in 1440, 
seized some Moors near Cape Bojador, and was subsequently forc- 
ed by his king, the celebrated Prince Henry of Portugal, to carry 
them back to Africa : he carried them to Rio del Oro, and receiv- 



39 

ed from the Moors in exchange, ten blacks and a quantity of 
gold dust, with which he returned to Lisbon, and this, which oc- 
curred in 1442, was the simple beginning of that extensive trade 
in human flesh, which has given so singular an aspect to the tex- 
ture of our population, and which has and will continue to influ- 
ence the character and destiny of the greatest portion of the inha- 
bitants of the two Americas." 

" The success of Gonzales, not only awakened the admiration, 
but stimulated the avarice of his countrymen; who, in the course 
of a few succeeding years, fitted out no less than thirty-seven ships, 
in the pursuit of the same gainful traffic." " So early as the year 
1502, the Spaniards began to employ a few negroes in the mines 
of Hispaniola, and in the year 1517 the Emperor, Charles the V., 
granted a patent to certain persons for the exclusive supply of 4000 
negroes annually, to the Islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica and 
Puerto Rico."* 

African slaves were first imported into this country in 1620, 
more than a century after their introduction in the West Indies. — 
It seems, that in the year 1620, the trade to Virginia was thrown 
open to all nations, and a Dutch vessel availing itself of the com- 
mercial liberty which prevailed, brought into James River twenty 
Africans, who were immediately purchased as slaves; " and as that 
hardy race," says Robertson, "was found more capable of endur- 
ing fatigue under a sultry climate than Europeans, their number 
has been increased by continual importations."! — Slavery was thus 
introduced ^into the new world, and its fertile soil and extensive 
territory, its sparse population and warm climate so congenial to 
the African constitution, soon gave a powerful stimulus to the trade, 
and drew towards it the mercantile enterprise of every commercial 
nation of Europe. England being the most commercial of Euro- 
pean nations, naturally engrossed a large portion of the trade; 
Bryan Edwards says, that from the year 1680 to 1786, there were 
imported into the British possessions alone 2,130,000 slaves — ma- 
king an average annual importation of more than 20,000. 

The annual importation into the two Americas from all quar- 
ters, has frequently transcended 100,000! But our limits will not 
allow us to enter more fully into this subject; and therefore, we 
must content ourselves by calling the attention of the reader to 
the 9th section of Walshes Appeal on the subject of negro slavery 
and the slave trade, in which he has brought together all the infor- 
mation upon this subject up to the time at which he wrote (1819). 

We will now proceed to consider 2nd — The effects of the Slave 
Trade on the condition of Africa —and first, will briefly advert to the 
supposed advantages. It is well known that almost the whole of 
Africa exists in a barbarous state- — only one or two removes above 
the Indian of America. At the commencement of the slave trade, 

* See Bryant Edwards' West Indies, vol. 2d, page 23S, and the sequel. 
tSee upon this subject 2d chapter of the first volume of Marshall's Life of Wash- 
ington and Robertson's Virginia. 



40 

slavery as we have already seen, was established throughout Africa, 
and had led on to great mitigation of the cruel practices of war ; — 
but still in consequence of the limited demand for slaves under 
their very rude system of agriculture, the prisoner of war was 
frequently put to death. 

So soon however as the slave trade was established, great care 
was taken in the preservation of the lives of prisoners, in conse- 
quence of the great demand for them occasioned by the slave traf- 
fic, so that although an extension has been given to the system of 
slavery, many lives are supposed to have been saved by it. 

Again, it has been contended, that the slave trade by giving a 
value to the African negro which would not otherwise have been 
attached to him, has produced much more mildness and kindness, in 
the treatment of slaves in Africa, that the utmost care is now taken 
in the rearing of -children, and consequently that although Africa 
has lost many of her inhabitants from this cause, yet a stimulus has 
thereby been given to population, which has in some measure 
made up the loss. 

" Africa," says Malthus, " has been at all times the principal 
mart of slaves. The drains of its population in this way have been 
great and constant, particularly since their introduction into the 
European colonies; but perhaps, as Doctor Franklin observes, it 
would be difficult to find the gap that has been made by a hundred 
years exportation of negroes, which has blackened half America."* 
Lastly, it has been urged and with great apparent justness, that 
the slave trade has contributed greatly to the civilization of a large 
portion of the African population, — that by transportation to the 
Western world, they have been placed in contact with the civilized 
white, and have been greatly benefitted by the change ; that the 
system of slavery throughout our continent and the Islands, is 
much less cruel than in Africa, — that there no where prevails in 
America, the horrid practice of sacrificing the slave on the death 
of his master, in order that he may be well attended in another 
world — a practice which all travellers in Africa assert to be extreme- 
ly common in many nations; — and finally, that the climate of our 
temperate and torrid zones, is much more suitable to the African 
constitution, than even their own climate ; and consequently, that 
the physical condition of the race has greatly improved by the 
transplantation. 

There is certainly much truth in the above assertions ; but still 
we cannot agree that the advantages to Africa from the slave trade, 
have preponderated over the disadvantages. Although wars have 
been made more mild by the trade, yet they have been made much 
more frequent : an additional and powerful motive for strife has 
been furnished. Countries have been overrun, and cities pillaged, 
mainly with a view of procuring slaves for the slave dealer. Brough- 
am likens the operation of the slave trade in this respect, to the effect 



See Malthus on Population, vol. 1, page 179, Georgetown Edition. 



41 

which the different menageries in the world and the consequent de- 
mand for wild beasts, have produced on the inferior animals of 
Africa. They are now taken alive, instead of being killed as for- 
merly ; but they are certainly more hunted and more harassed than 
if no foreign demand existed for them. The unsettled state of 
Africa, caused by the slave trade, is most undoubtedly unfavorable 
to the progress of civilization in that extensive region. In proof 
of the fatal effects of the slave trade on the peace, order and civi- 
lization of Africa, Mr. Wilberforce asserted, and his assertion is 
upheld by the statements of all travellers who have penetrated far 
into the interior, that while in every region the sea coast and the 
banks of navigable rivers, those districts which from their situation 
had most intercourse with civilized nations, were found to be most 
civilized and cultivated, the effects of the slave trade had been such 
in Africa, that those parts of the coast which had been the seats of 
the longest and closest intercourse with European nations in carry- 
ing on a flourishing slave trade, were far inferior in civilization and 
knowledge to many tracts of the interior country, where the face 
of the white man had never been seen ; and thus has the slave trade 
been able to reverse the ordinary effects of Christianity and Maho- 
medanism, and to cause the latter to be the instructer and enlight- 
ener of mankind, while the former left them under the undisturbed 
or rather increased influence of all their native superstitions.* 

Again; the condition of the negro during what is called the mid- 
die passage, is allowed by all to be wretched in the extreme. The 
slave traders are too often tempted to take on board more slaves 
than can be conveniently carried, they are then stored away in much 
too narrow space, and left to all the horrors and privations incident 
to a voyage through tropical seas. The Edinburgh Review asserts, 
that about seventeen in a hundred died generally during the pas- 
sage, and about thirty-three afterwards in the seasoning — making 
the loss of the negroes exported, rise to the frightful amount of 50 
per cent. It has been further asserted, that the treatment of the 
negroes after importation has been generally so cruel, as that the 
population has not by its procreative energies kept up its numbers 
in any of the West-India Islands — that it has been cheaper for the 
West Indian to work out his negroes, and trust to the slave trade 
for a supply, than to raise them in the Islands where provisions are 
so dear. We believe the accounts of the ill treatment of slaves in 
the West-Indies have been greatly exaggerated, and have no doubt 
that their condition has generally been better than in Africa; but 
still it is true that breeding has been discouraged generally where 
the slave trade was in full operation ; and children not being allowed 
full attention from the mother, have too frequently died from the 
want of care. And this is most probably a principal reason of the 

* It is proper to state here, that Parke ascribes the superior condition of the interior 
districts of Africa, principally to a more healthy climate. 



42 

slow increase of the slaves in the West-Indies by procreation.* 
Upon the whole then, we must come to the conclusion that the 
slave trade has been disadvantageous to Africa, has caused a vio- 
lation of the principles of humanity, and given rise to much suffer- 
ing and to considerable destruction of human life.f Judging by 
its effects, we must condemn it, and consequently agree that sla- 
very in our hemisphere was based upon injustice in the first in- 
stance. 

But we believe that there are many circumstances of an allevia- 
ting character, which form at least a strong apology for the slave 
trade; — thus: slavery exists throughout the whole of Africa; the 
slave must necessarily be looked upon, in the light of property, and 
subject to bargain, sale and removal, as all kinds of moveable pro- 
perty are. The Adscripti Gleb<z, or slaves attached to the soil, and 
not suffered to be removed, fare the worst. When they multiply 
too greatly for the products of the soil on w r hich they are situated, 
their subsistence is scanty and their condition is miserable. When 
not in proportion to the extent of the soil, then they are sure to be 
overworked as there is a deficiency of labor. It is certainly best 
therefore if slavery exists at all, that buying and selling should be 
allowed, and upon this principle the middle passage certainly con- 
stitutes the greatest objection to the slave trade, when those alone 
are imported who were slaves in Africa. 

But again; it is extremely difficult in all questions of morality, 
to say how far ignorance, conscientious opinions and concomitant 
circumstances, may atone for acts extremely hurtful and improper 
in themselves; we all agree that these produce great modifications. 
The bigot who burns his religious enemy at the stake, and consci- 
entiously believes he has done his God a service, and the North 
American Indian who torments with every refinement of cruelty 
the prisoner who has unfortunately fallen into his hands, and be- 
lieves that the Great Spirit applauds him, and that the blood of his 
fathers calls for it, surely do not commit the same amount of sin as 
the perfectly enlightened statesman, who should do the same things 
from policy, knowing them to be wrong. In like manner, the slave 
trade at its origin, can lay claim to the same sort of apology, from 
the condition of the world when it arose, and the peculiar circum- 
stances which generated it. Slavery was then common throughout 
almost every country of Europe. 

Indeed the slaves under the appellation of main mortables\ in 



* Another cause of the difficulty of keeping up the slave population of the West In- 
dies, is the great disproportion between the sexes among those imported, — the males be- 
ing greatly more numerous thanthe females. 

f We do not by any means wish to be understood as contending that negro slavery 
in our hemisphere, has lessened the number of negroes throughout the world. On the 
contrary, there is nothing more true, than that the number has greatly increased by it. 
We only allude to the destruction of life in the Middle Passage, and the Seasoning. 

I It is a singular fact, that the slaves belonging to the Church, were the last liberated — 
a striking illustration of the feeble effects of Religion and Philanthropy, when arrayed 
against interest. 



43 

France, were never liberated until the revolution in 1789. The pub- 
lic law of Europe too, justified the killing or enslaving of the pri- 
soner at the option of the captor. Under these circumstances, we 
are not to wonder that the slave trade, so far from exciting the hor- 
rors of mankind, as now, actually commanded the admiration of 
Europe. Gonzales, we have just seen, during the reign of the 
celebrated Prince Henry, in 1442, brought the first negro slaves 
into Lisbon, and the deed excited the admiration of all ; again three 
years afterwards, Dinis Fernandez, a citizen of Lisbon and an Es- 
quire to the King Don John, captured four negroes on the coast of 
Africa and brought them into Lisbon ; and the Portuguese historian 
Barras, " eulogizes Dinis," says Walsh, in his notices of Brazil, 
"that he did not stop at the time, to make forays into the country, 
and capture more slaves on his own account, but brought those he 
had caught back to his master, who was mightily pleased, not only 
with the discoveries he had made but with the people he had carried 
with him, which had not been delivered from the hands of the Moors 
like the other negroes, which had up to that time come into the 
kingdom, but had been caught on their own soil." 

The famous Bartholomew de las Casas, bishop of Chiapi, who 
is said to have been the first to recommend the importation of Afri- 
cans into the New World, was a man of the mildest and most phi- 
lanthropic temper, yet he never doubted <*> all the right to enslave 
Africans, though he was the zealous advocate and protector of the 
Indian. " While he contended," says Robertson, "for the liberty 
of people born in one quarter of the globe, he labored to enslave 
the inhabitants of another region ; and in the warmth of his zeal to 
save the Americans from the yoke, pronounced it to be lawful and 
expedient to impose one still heavier upon the Africans."* 

We have already seen that Charles the 5th, granted a commission 
to a company to supply his American possessions with 4000 slaves 
per annum. Ferdinand and Isabella likewise had permitted the 
trade before him. 

John Hawkins was the first Englishman who embarked in the 
trade, and he seems by his daring and enterprise in the business to 
have greatly pleased his sovereign Queen Elizabeth, who so far 
from disgracing him conferred on him the honors of knighthood, 
and made him treasurer of the navy.f Elizabeth, James I., 
Charles I. and II., were all in the habit of chartering companies 
to carry on the trade. No scruples of conscience seem ever to 
have disturbed the quiet of these royal personages or of the agents- 
whom they employed. The last Charter Company was called the 
Royal African Company, and had among the subscribers the King 
(Charles II.), the Duke of York, his brother, and many other per- 
sons of high rank and quality.^ In fact women, the most .virtuous 
and humane, were often subscribers to this kind of stock, and seem 

* Robertson's America. 

t See Edward's West Indies, vol. 2, p. 242. 

I Edward's West Indies, vol. 2, pp. 247 — 8* 



44 



never to have reflected upon the injustice and iniquity of the traffic, 
which has so long scandalized civilized Europe. It would indeed be 
a most difficult question in casuistry, to determine the amount of sin 
and wickedness committed by the various governments of Europe, 
in sanctioning a trade which the condition of Europe, Africa and 
America and all the habits and practices of the day seemed so com- 
pletely to justify. 

We shall now proceed, 3rdly, to the consideration of the share of 
responsibility which attaches to the United States in the commission 
of the original sin by which slavery was first introduced into this 
country, — The colonies, being under the control and guidance of 
the mother country, were of course responsible for no commercial 
acts and regulations in which they had no share whatever. The 
slave trade on the part of Great Britain, commenced during the 
reign of Elizabeth, who personally took a share in it. The colo- 
nies did not then exist. It was encouraged in the successive reigns 
of Charles I. and II., and James II.; and William the III., outdid 
them all: — With Lord Somers for his minister, he declared the 
slave trade to be highly beneficial to the nation. The colonies all 
this time took no share in it themselves, merely purchasing what the 
British merchants brought them, and doing therein what the British 
government invited them to do, by every means in their power. 
And now let us see, wW^t was, that first marked it with disappro- 
bation, and sought to confine it within narrower bounds. The 
colonies began in 1760. South Carolina, a British colony, pass- 
ed an act to prohibit further importation, — but Great Britain re- 
jected this act with indignation, and declared that the slave trade 
was beneficial and necessary to the mother country. The governors 
of the colonies had positive orders to sanction no law enacted 
against the slave trade. In Jamaica, in the year 1765, an attempt 
was made to abolish the trade to that Island. The governor de- 
clared that his instructions would never allow him to sign the bill. 
It was tried again in the same Island in 1774, but Great Britain 
by the Earl of Dartmouth, president of the board, answered — 
" We cannot allow the colonies to check or discourage in any degree 
a traffic so beneficial to the nation." The above historical account 
we have taken from a British writer (Barham's Observations on 
the Abolition of Negro Slavery). 

Among all the colonies, none seem to have been more eager and 
more pressing for the abolition of the slave trade than Virginia — in 
which State the citizens, wonderful to relate, seem now more re- 
morseful and conscience stricken than any where else in the whole 
Southern country. Judge Tucker, in his Notes on Blackstone's 
Commentaries, has collected a list of no less than twenty-three acts 
imposing duties on slaves, which occur jn the compilations of Vir- 
ginia laws. The first, bears date as far back as 1699; and the 
real design of all of them, was not revenue, but the repression of 
the importation. In 1772, most of the duties previously imposed, 
were re-enacted, and the Assembly transmitted at the same time a 



// 



/ 



// 



45 

petition to the throne, which, as Mr. Walsh most justty observes, 
speaks almost all that could be desired, for the confusion of our 
slanderers. The following are extracts: "We are encouraged to 
look up to the throne and implore your majesty's paternal assis- 
tance in averting a calamity of a most alarming nature." "The 
importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast of Africa, 
hath long been considered a trade of great inhumanity, and under 
its present encouragement, we have too much reason to fear, will 
endanger the very existence of your majesty's American Domini-// 
ons." " 

"Deeply impressed with these sentiments, we most humbly be- 
seech your majesty to remove all those restraints on your majesty's 
governors of this colony, which inhibit their assenting to such laws 
as might check so very pernicious a commerce." The petition of 
course was unavailing. The very first Assembly which met in 
Virginia, after the adoption of her constitution, prohibited the traf- 
fic; and the "inhuman use of the royal negative" against the action 
of the colony upon this subject, is enumerated in the first clause 
of the first Virginia Constitution, as a reason of the separation / 
from the mother country. // 

The action of the United States government likewise upon the 
slave trade, seems to have been as speedy and efficient as could 
possibly have been expected from a government necessarily placed 
unde*r great restraint and limitation. 

Not being able to enter into details, we quote with great plea- 
sure the following remark from Mr. Walsh, who with most inde- 
fatigable zeal and industry, has collected all the important infor- 
mation on the subject of the slave trade, and furnished the world 
with a complete and triumphant vindication of the United States, 
against the taunts and illiberal insinuations of British writers.- — 
"It is seen," says Mr. Walsh, " by the foregoing abstract, that Fe- 
deral America interdicted the trade from her ports, thirteen years 
before Great Britain ; that she made it punishable as a crime seven 
years before; that she fixed four years sooner the period for non- 
importation — which period was earlier than that determined up-ff 
on by Great Britain for her colonies. We ought not to overlook 
the circumstance, that these measures were taken by a Legislature 
composed in considerable part of the representatives of slave hold- 
ing states; slave holders themselves, in whom of course according 
to the Edinburgh Review " conscience had suspended its func- 
tions" and "justice, gentleness and pity were extinguished." — In 
truth, the representatives from, our Southern States have been fore- 
most in testijying their abhorrence of the traffic* Are we not then 
fully justified, from a historical review of the part which the colo- 
nists took, before and after their independence, in relation to the 
slave trade, in asserting that slavery was forced upon them, and 
the slave trade continued contrary to their wishes. If ever nation 

* See WalsK'^Appeal 2nd Edition, page 323. 
7 



46 

stood justified before Heaven, in regard to an evil, which had be- 
come interwoven with her social system, is not that country ours? 
Are not our hands unpolluted with the original sin, and did we not 
wash them clean of the contagion the moment our independent ex- 
istence was established? Where is the stain that rests upon our es- 
cutcheon? There is none ! United America has done her duty, 
and Virginia has the honor of taking the lead in the abolition of 
the slave trade, whose example has been so tardily and reluctantly 
followed by the civilized nations of Europe. Virginia, therefore, 
especially, has nothing to reproach herself with — " the still small 
voice of conscience" can never disturb her quiet. She truly stands 
upon this subject like the Chevalier Bayard — " sans peur et sans 
reproche." 

We have now finished the first principaj division of our subject — 
in which we have treated, we hope satisfactorily, of the origin of 
slavery in ancient and modern times, and have closed with a con- 
sideration of the slave trade, by which slavery has been introduced 
into the United States. We hope that this preliminary discus- 
sion will not be considered inappropriate to our main subject. — 
We have considered it indispensably necessary, to point out the 
true sources of slavery and the principles upon which it rests, in 
order that we might appreciate fully the Value of those arguments 
based upon the principles that " all men are born equal" — that 
"slavery in the abstract is wrong," that "*' the slave has a natural 
right to regain his liberty," &c. &c. — all of which doctrines were 
most pompously and ostentatiously put forth by some of the abo- 
litionists in the Virginia Legislature. No set of legislators ever 
have, or ever can legislate upon purely abstract principles, entirely 
independent of circumstances, without the ruin of the body politic 
which should have the misfortune to be under the guidance of 
such quackery. Well and philosophically has Burke remarked, 
that circumstances give in reality to every political principle its 
distinguishing colour and discriminating effect. The circumstan- 
ces are what render every political scheme beneficial or noxious 
to mankind, and we cannot stand forward and give praise or blame 
to any thing which relates to human actions and human concerns, 
on a simple view of the object, as it stands stript of every relation 
in all the nakedness and solitude of metaphysical abstraction. The 
historical view which we have given of the origin and progress of 
slavery, shews most conclusively that something else is requisite to 
convert slavery into freedom, than the mere enunciation of abstract 
truths, divested of all adventitious circumstances and relations. — 
We shall now then proceed to the second great division of our 
subject, and inquire seriously and fairly, whether there be any 
means by which we may get rid of slavery. 



4? 
1L Plans for the Molition of Negro Slavery. 

Under this head we will examine, first, those schemes which 
propose abolition and deportation, and secondly, those which con- 
template emancipation without deportation. 

1st. Emancipation and Deportation. — In the late Virginia Le- 
gislature, where the subject of slavery underwent the most tho- 
rough discussion, ail seemed to be perfectly agreed in the necessity 
of removal in case of emancipation. Several members from the 
lower counties, which are deeiply interested in this question, seem- 
ed to be sanguine in their anticipations of the final success of 
some project of emancipation and deportation to Africa, the ori- 
ginal home of the negro. "Let us translate them," said one of 
the most respected and able members of the Legislature, (Gen. 
Broadnax,) "to those realms from which, in evil times, under in- 
auspicious influences, their fathers were unfortunately abducted. — 
Mr. Speaker, the idea of restoring these people to the region in 
which nature had planted them, and to whose climate she had fit- 
ted their constitutions — the idea of benefitting not only our condi- 
tion and their condition by the removal, but making them the 
means of carrying back to a great continent, lost in the profound- 
est depths of savage barbarity, unconscious of the existence 
even of the God who created them, not only the arts and comforts 
and multiplied advantages of civilized life, but what is of more value 
than all, a knowledge of true religion — intelligence of a Redeem- 
er—is one of the grandest and noblest, one of the most expan- 
sive and glorious ideas which ever entered into the imagination of 
man. The conception, whether to the philosopher, the statesman, 
the philanthropist, or the Christian, of rearing up a colony which 
is to be the nucleus around which future emigration will concenter, 
and open all Africa to civilization and commerce, and science and 
arts and religion — when Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands, in- 
deed, is one which warms the heart with delight." (Speech of Gen. 
Broadnax of Dinwiddie, pp. 36 and 37.) We fear that this splen- 
did vision, the creation of a brilliant imagination, influenced by 
the pure feelings of a philanthropic and generous heart, is destined 
to vanish at the severe touch of analysis. Fortunately for reason 
and common sense, all these projects of deportation may be sub- 
jected to the most rigid and accurate calculations, which are amply 
sufficient to dispel all doubt, even in the minds of the most san- 
guine, as to their practicability. 

We take it for granted that the right of the owner to his slave is 
to be respected, and consequently that he is not required to eman- 
cipate him, unless his full value is paid by the state. Let us then, 
keeping this in view, proceed to the very simple calculation of the 
expense of emancipation and deportation in Virginia. The slaves, 
by the last census (1830) amounted within a small fraction to 
470; 000; the average value of each one of these is $200; con- 
sequently the whole aggregate value of the slave population of 






48 



Virginia in 1830, was $94,000,000, and allowing for the increase 
since, we cannot err far in putting the present value at $ 100,- 
000,000. The assessed value of all the houses and lands in the 
state amounts to $206,000,000, and these constitute the material 
items in the wealth of the state, the whole personal property be- 
sides bearing but a very small proportion to the value of slaves, 
lands, and houses. Now, do not these very simple statistics 
speak volumes upon this subjectf It is gravely recommended to 
the state of Virginia to give up a species of property which con- 
stitutes nearly one-third of the weafch of the whole state, and al- 
most one-half of that of Lower Virginia, and with the remaining 
two-thirds to encounter the additional enormous expense of trans- 
portation and colonization on the coast of Africa. But the loss of 
$100,000,000 of property is scarcely the half of what Virginia 
would lose, if the immutable laws of nature could suffer (as fortu- 
nately they cannot) this tremendous scheme of colonization to be 
carried into full effect. Is it not population which makes our lands 
and houses valuable? Why are lots in Paris and London worth 
more than the silver dollars which it might take to cover them? 
Why are lands of equal fertility in England and France worth more 
than those of our Northern Stales, and those again worth more 
than Southern soils, and those in turn worth more than the soils 
of the distant West? It is the presence or absence of population 
which alone can explain the fact. It is in truth the slave labor in 
Virginia which gives value to her soil and her habitations — take 
away this and you pull down the atlas that upholds the whole sys- 
stem — eject from the state the whole slave population, and we 
risk nothing in the prediction, that on the day in which it shall be 
accomplished, the worn soils of Virginia will not bear the paltry 
price of the government lands in the West, and the Old Dominion 
will be a " waste howling wilderness," — " the grass shall be seen 
growing in the streets, and the foxes peeping from their holes." 
But the favourers of this scheme say they do not contend for the 
sudden emancipation and deportation of the whole black popula- 
tion ; — they would send off only the increase, and thereby keep 
down the population to its present amount, while the whites increas- 
ing at their usual rate would finally become relatively so numerous 
as to render the presence of the blacks among us for ever after- 
wards entirely harmless. This scheme, which at first to the unre- 
flecting seems plausible, and much less wild than the project of 
sending off the whole, is nevertheless impracticable and visionary, 
as we think a few remarks will prove. It is computed that the an- 
nual increase of the slaves and free coloured population of Virginia 
is about six thousand. Let us first, then, make a calculation of 
the expense of purchase and transportation. At $200 each, the six 
thousand will amount in value to $ 1,200,000. At $30 each, for 
transportation, which we shall soon see, is too little, we have the 
whole expense of purchase and transportation $1,380,000, an ex- 
pense to be annually incurred by Virginia to keep down her black 



49 

population to its present amount. And let us ask, is there any one 
who can seriously argue that Virginia can incur such an annual ex- 
pense as this for the next twenty-five or fifty years, until the whites 
have multiplied so greatly upon the blacks, as in the opinion of the 
alarmists for ever to quiet the fears of the community £ Vain and 
delusive hope, if any were ever wild enough to entertain it ! Poor old 
Virginia, the leader of the poverty stricken team, which have been 
for years so heavily dragging alon^ under the intolerable burthen 
of the Federal government, must inevitably be crushed whenever 
this new weight i> imposed on her, in comparison with which fede- 
ral exactions are light and mild. We should as soon expect the 
Chamois, the hardy rover over Alpine regions, by his unassisted 
strength to hurl down the snowy mantle which for ages has cloth- 
ed the lofty summit of Mont Blanc, as that Virginia will be ever 
able by her own resources to purchase and colonize on the coast 
of Africa six thousand slaves for any timber of } r ears in succession. 
But this does not develope to its full extent the monstrous absur- 
dity of this scheme. There is a view of it yet to be taken, which 
seems not to have struck very forcibly any of the speakers in the 
Virginia Legislature, but which appears to us of itself perfectly 
conclusive against this whole project. We have made some efforts 
to obtain something like an accurate account of the number of ne- 
groes every year carried out of Virginia to the south and south- 
west. We have not been enabled to succeed completely; but from 
all the information we can obtain, we have no hesitation in saying, 
that upwards of six thousand are yearly exported to other stales. 
Virginia is in fact a negro raising state for other states; she pro- 
duces enough for her own supply and six thousand for sale. Now, 
suppose the government of Virginia enters the slave market, re- 
solved to purchase six thousand for emancipation and deportation, 
is it not evident that it must overbid the southern seeker, and thus 
take the very slaves who would have gone to the south? The very 
first operation then of this scheme, provided slaves be treated as 
property, is to arrest the current which lias been hitherto flowing 
to the south, and to accumulate the evil in the state. As sure as 
the moon in her transit over the meridian arrests the current which 
is gliding to the ocean, so sure will the action of the Virginia gov- 
ernment, in an attempt to emancipate and send off 6000 slaves, 
stop those who are annually going out of the state; and when 
6000 are sent off in any one year, (which we never expect to see) 
it will be found on investigation that they are those who would 
have been sent out of the state by the operation of our slave trade, 
and to the utter astonishment and confusion of our abolitionists, 
the black population will be found advancing with its usual rapid- 
ity — the only operation of the scheme being to substitute our gov- 
ernment, alias ourselves, as purchasers, instead of the planters of 
the south. This is a view which every legislator in the state 
should take. He should beware lest in his zeal for action, this ef- 
flux, which is now so salutary to the state, and such an abundant 



50 



gotirce of wealth, be suddenly dried up, and all the evils of slavery 
be increased instead of diminished. If government really could 
enter with capital and zeal enough into the boundless project, we 
might even in a few years see the laws of nature reversed, and the 
tide of slavery flowing from the south in Virginia, to satisfy the 
philanthropic demand for colonization. The only means which 
the government could use to prevent the above described effect, 
would be either arbitrarily to fix the price of slaves below their mar- 
ket value, which would be a clear violation of the right of proper- 
ty, (which we shall presently notice,) or to excite a feeling of in- 
security and apprehension as to this kind of property, and thus dis- 
pose the owner to part with it at less than its true value: — but 
surely no statesman would openly avow such an object, although it 
must be confessed that some of the speakers even who contended 
that slaves should ever be treated as property, avowed sentiments 
which were calculated to produce such a result. 

It is said, however, that the southern market will at all events 
be closed against us, and consequently that the preceding argu- 
ment falls to the ground. To this we answer, that as long as the 
demand to the south exists, the supply will be furnished in some 
way or other, if our government do not unwisely tamper with the 
subject. Bryan Edwards has said, that "an attempt to prevent 
the introduction of slaves into the West Indies would be like 
chaining the winds, or giving laws to the ocean." We may with 
truth affirm, that an attempt to prevent a circulation of this kind 
of property through the slave-holding states of our confederacy, 
would be equally if not more impracticable. But there is a most 
striking illustration of this now exhibiting before our eyes — the 
Southampton massacre produced great excitement and apprehen- 
sion throughout the slave-holding states, and two of them, hitherto 
the largest purchasers of Virginia slaves, have interdicted their in- 
troduction under severe penalties. Many in our state looked for- 
ward to an immediate fall in the price of slaves from this cause — 
and what has been the result? Why, wonderful to relate, Virginia 
slaves are now higher than' they have been for many years past — 
and this rise in price has no doubt been occasioned by the number 
of southern purchasers who have visited our state, under the belief 
that Virginians had been frightened into a determination to get 
clear of their slaves at all events ; "and from an artificial demand 
in the slave purchasing states, caused by an apprehension on the 
part of the farmers in those states, that the regular supply of slaves 
would speedily be discontinued by the operation of their non-im- 
portation regulations;"* and we are, consequently, at this moment 

* From Louisiana, many of the farmers themselves, have come into our state, for the 
purpose of purchasing their own slaves, and thereby evading the laws. There are in 
fact, so many plans which will effectually defeat all these preventive regulations, that 
we may consider their rigid enforcement, utterly impracticable ; and moreover, as the 
excitement produced by the late insurrection in Virginia, dies away, so will these laws 
be forgotten and remain as_dead letters upon the statute books. 



51 

exporting slaves more rapidly, through the operation of the inter- 
nal slave trade, than for many years past. 

Let us now examine a moment into the object proposed to be 
accomplished by this scheme. It is contended that free labor is 
infinitely superior to slave labor in every point of view, and there- 
fore that it is highly desirable to exchange the latter for the former, 
and that this will be gradually accomplished by emancipation and 
deportation; because the vacuum occasioned by the exportation of 
the slaves will be filled up by the influx of freemen from the north and 
other portions of ihe Union — and thus, for every slave we lose, it 
is contended we shall receive in exchange a free laborer, much 
more productive and more moral. If we are not greatly mistaken, 
this, on analysis, will be found to be a complete specimen of that 
arithmetical school boy reasoning, which has ever proved so decep- 
tive in politics, and so ruinous in its practical consequences; and 
first, let us see whether any thing will be gained in point of produc- 
tiveness, by this exchange of slave labor for free, even upon the 
avowed principles of the abolitionists themselves. The great ob- 
jections to slave labor, seem to be — First, that it is uuproduciive, 
or a^least, not as productive as t'vee labor; and Secondly, that it 
is calculated to repel free labor from the sphere in which it is 
exercised. This latter effect has been briefly and more ingeni- 
ously urged, by a writer in the Richmond Enquirer of the. 3rd of 
March 1832, over the signature of "York," than by any one who 
is known to us, and we shall consequently introduce an extract from 
his essay. 

" Society, naturally revolves itself, "says this writer," into three 
classes. The first comprehends professional men, capitalists and 
large landed proprietors; the Second, embraces artizans and small 
proprietors; and the Third, is composed of common laborers. 
Now we are a society placed in the anomalous predicament of be- 
ing totally without a laboring class', for all our labor is performed 
by slaves, who constitute no part of that society, and who quoad 
that society, may be regarded as brutes or machines. This cir- 
cumstance operates directly as a check upon the increase of white 
population. For, as some intelligence or property is required to 
enable a man to belong to either of the two first classes above 
enumerated, (and which I have remarked are the only classes 
which we have) and as no one with ordinary self-respect, can sub- 
mit to sink below them, and become outcasts, the immediate ten- 
dency of the supernumerary members is to emigration." We will 
not for the present, dispute the premises of the very intelligent 
and graceful writer, from whom we have copied the above extract; 
we have endeavored throughout this review, to shew that our ad- 
versaries are not justified in their conclusions, even if we admit 
the truth of their premises. Now, what is the conclusion arrived 
at by our adversaries, from the premises just mentioned? That we 
must deport our slaves as fast as possible, and leave the vacuum to 
be filled by free labor. In the first place, then, we say upon 



52 

their own principles even, they cannot expect free labor to take the 
place of slave, for every one acknowledges it utterly impossible to 
send away, at once, all our slaves — there is scarcely we presume, a 
single abolitionist in Virginia, who has ever supposed, that we can 
send away more than the annual increase. Now, then, we ask, 
how can any one reasonably expect that the taking away of two 
or three negroes from a body of one hundred, (and this is a much 
greater proportion than the abolitionists hope to colonize) can des- 
troy that prejudice against laboring with the blacks, which is re- 
presented as preventing the whites from laboring, and as sending 
them in multitudes to the West. If we are too proud to work in 
a field with fifty negro men this year, we shall surely be no more 
disposed to do it next year, because one negro, the increase of the 
fifty, has been sent to Liberia; and consequently the above reason- 
ing, if it prove anything, proves that we must prevent ourlaboring 
classes (the blacks) from increasing, because whites will not work 
with them — although the whites will be just as averse to working 
with them after you have checked their increase as before ! 

But let us suppose, that by some kind of logical legerdemain, it 
can be proven that free labor will supply the place of sla^e la- 
bor, which is deported to Africa — even then, we think they will 
fail upon their other great principle, that free labor is better than 
slave, the truth of which principle for the present, we are willing 
to allow — and their whole argument fails, for this plain and palpa- 
ble reason, that free labor by association with slave labor, must 
inevitably be brought down to its level and even below it, — for the 
vices of the slave you may correct, by means of your authority over 
him, but those of the asssociate free laborer you cannot. Every 
farmer in Virginia, can testify to the truth of this assertion. He 
knows full well, that if he employs a white laborer to work with a 
black one, even at job work, where of course the inducement to la- 
bor is greatest — he will not do more than the negro, and perhaps 
in a majority of cases, he will not do as much. What then might 
we expect of him, if he should enter the field with fifty fold his 
number of blacks, to work along with them regularly through the 
four seasons of the year? We hazard little in saying, he would be 
a more unproductive laborer than the black, for he would soon 
have all his idle propensities, without being subjected to the same 
salutary restraint. 

It is a well known general, fact, to all close observers of mankind, 
that if two different grades of labor as to productiveness be associ- 
ated together in the same occupation, the higher has a tendency to 
descend to the level of the lower. Schmalzinhis Political Eco- 
nomy says, that the indolence and carelessness of the serfs in the 
north of Europe, corrupt the free laborers who come into contact 
with them. Jones, in his volume on Rents, says, " a new road is 
at this time (1831) making, which is to connect Hamburg and the 
Elbe with Berlin; it passes over the sterile sands, of which so much 
of the north of Germany consists, and the materials for it are sup- 



53 

plied by those Isolated blocks of granite, of which the presence on 
the surface of those sands forms a notorious geological puzzle. 
These blocks, transported to the line of road, are broken to the 
proper size by workmen, some of whom are Prussian free laborers, 
others Leibeigeners of the Mecklenburg territory, through a part 
of which the road passes. They are paid a stipulated sum for 
breaking a certain quantity, and all are paid alike. Yet the Lei- 
beigeners could not at first be prevailed upon to break more than 
one third of the quantity which formed the ordinary task of the 
Prussians. The men were mixed, in the hope that the example and 
the gains of the more industrious, would animate the sluggish. 
Now mark the result. A contrary effect followed ; the Leibeige- 
ners did not improve, but the exertions of the other laborers sensi- 
bly slackened, and at the time my informant (the English Engineer 
who superintended the work,) was speaking to me, the men were 
again at work in separate gangs carefully kept asunder. 1 '* And 
thus do we find, by an investigation of this subject, that if we 
should introduce, by any means, free labor in the stead of slave la- 
bor deported to Africa, that it will be certain to deteriorate by as- 
sociation with slave labor, until it sinks down to and even below 
its level. So far, we have admitted the possibility of exchanging 
slave for free labor, and have endeavored to prove, upon the prin- 
ciples of the abolitionists, that nothing would be gained by it. 
We will now endeavor to prove, and we think we can do it incon- 
testibly, that the scheme of abolition and deportation will not and 
cannot possibly effect this exchange of slave labor for free, 
even if it were desirable. And in order that we may examine 
the project fully in this point of view, we will endeavor — first, 
to trace out its operation on the slave population, and then on the 
wjpite. 

Since the publication of the celebrated work of Dr. Malthus on 
the "principle of population," the knowledge of the causes which 
affect its condition and increase, is much more widely diffused. It 
is now well known to every student of political economy, that in 
the wide range of legislation, there is nothing more dangerous 
than too much tampering with the elastic and powerful spring of 
population. 

The energies of government are for the most part feeble or im- 
potent when arrayed against its action. It is this procreative pow- 
er of the human species, either exerted or dormant, which so fre- 
quently brushes away in reality the visionary fabrics of the philan- 
thropists, and mars the cherished plots and schemes of statesmen. 
Euler has endeavored to prove, by some calculations, that the 
human species, under the most favorable circumstances, is capable 
of doubling itself once in twelve years. In our Western country, 
the progress of population has, in many extensive districts, been so 
rapid as to show, in our opinion most conclusively, that it is ca- 

* See Jones' Political Economy, vol. 1, pp. 51, 52 — London Edition. 
8 



pable of doubling itself once in fifteen years without the aid of imi- 
gration. The whole of our population, since the independence 
of the United States, has shown itself fully capable of duplication 
in periods of twenty-five years, without the accession from abroad.* 
In some portions of our country the population is stationary, in 
others but very slowly advancing. We will assume then for the 
two extremes in our country, the stationary condition on the one 
side, and such increase on the other as to give rise to a duplication 
every fifteen years. Now as throughout the whole range compre- 
hended between these extremes, population is capable of exerting 
various degrees of energy, it is very evident that the statesman 
who wishes to increase or diminish population, must look cautious- 
ly to the effect of his measures on its spring, and see how this will 
be acted on. If for example his object be to lessen the number of 
a slowly increasing population, he must be convinced that his plan 
does not stimulate the procreative energies of society to produce 
more than he is capable of taking away ; or if his object be to in- 
crease the numbers, take heed lest this project deaden and para- 
lyze the source of increase so much as to more than counterba- 
lance any effort of his. Now looking at the texture of the Virginia 
population, the desideratum is to diminish the blacks and increase 
the whites. Let us see how the scheme of emancipation and de- 
portation will act. We have already shown that the first operation 
of the plan, if slave property were rigidly respected and never 
taken without full compensation, would be to put a stop to the ef- 
flux from the state through other channels; but this would not be 
the only effect. Government entering into the market with indi- 
viduals, would elevate the price of slaves beyond their natural va- 
lue, and consequently the raising of them would become an object 
of primary importance throughout the whole state. We can raa- 
dily imagine that the price of slaves might become so great that 
each master would do all in his power to encourage marriage 
among them — would allow the females almost entire exemption 
from labor, that they might the better breed and nurse — and would 
so completely concentrate his efforts upon this object, as to neg- 
lect other schemes and less productive sources of wealth. Under 
these circumstances the prolific African might no doubt be stimu- 
lated to press hard upon one of -the limits above stated, doubling 
his numbers in fifteen years ; and such is the tendency which our 
abolition schemes, if ever seriously engaged in, will most undoubt- 
edly produce ; they will be certain to stimulate the procreative 
powers of that very race which they are aiming to diminish ; they 
will enlarge and invigorate the very monster which they are endea- 
voring to stifle, and realize the beautiful but melancholy fable of Sisy- 
phus, by an eternal renovation of hope and disappointment. If it 
were possible for Virginia to purchase and send off annually for the 

* The longest period of duplication has been about twenty-three years and seven 
months, so that the addition of one year and five months will more than compensate 
for the emigration. 



55 

next twenty-five or fifty years, 12,000 slaves, we should have very 
little hesitation in affirming-, that the number of slaves in Virginia 
would not be at all lessened by the operation, and at the conclu- 
sion of the period such habits would be generated among our 
blacks, that for a long time after the cessation of the drain, popu- 
lation might advance so rapidly as to produce among us all the 
calamities and miseries of an over crowded people. 

We are not now dealing in mere conjecture; there is ample proof 
of the correctness of these anticipations in the history of our own 
hemisphere. The West India Islands, as we have before seen, are 
supplied with slaves more cheaply by the African slave trader than 
they can raise them, and consequently the black population in the 
Islands nowhere keeps up its numbers by natural increase. It ap- 
pears by a statement of Mr. F. Buxton recently published, that 
the total number of slaves in the British West Indies in 1817, was 
730, 1 12. After a lapse of eleven years, in IS2S, the numbers were 
reduced to 678,527, making a loss on thecapital of 1817, in theshort 
space of eleven years, of 51, 585.* In the Mauritius in the same space 
of time, the loss on the capital of 1817 amounting to but 76,774, 
was 10,767. Even in the Island of Cuba, where the negro slave 
is treated as humanely as any where on the globe, from 1804 to 
1817, the blacks lost 4,461 upon the stock of 1804. *" Prior to 
the annexation of Louisiana to the United States," says Mr. Clay 
in his Colonization Speech of 1830, "the supply of slaves from 
Africa was abundant. The price of adults was generally about 
one hundred dollars, a price less than the cost of raising an infant. 
Then it was believed that the climate of the province was unfavora- 
ble to the rearing of negro children, and comparatively few were 
raised. After the United States abolished the slave trade, the price 
of adults rose very considerably — greater attention was conse- 
quently bestowed on their children, and now nowhere is the Afri- 
can female more prolific than she is in Louisiana, and the climate 
of no one of the Southern States is supposed to be more favorable 
to the rearing of her offspring." For a similar reason now, the 
slaves in Virginia multiply more rapidly than in most of the South- 
ern States ; — the Virginians can raise cheaper than they can buj' ; 
in fact it is one of their greatest sources of profit. In many of the 
other slaveholding States this is not the case, and consequently the 
same care is not taken to encourage matrimony and the rearing of 
children. 

For a similar reason, in ancient times, few slaves were reared in 
populous districts and large towns, these being supplied with slaves 
raised at a distance or taken in war, at a cheaper rate than they 
could be raised. " The comparison is shocking," says Mr. Hume, 

* Bryan Edwards attributes the decrease of the slaves in the W. Indies principally 
to the disproportion of the sexes. But in the present instance, we are constrained to 
attribute it to another cause, for we find of the 730, J 12 slaves in the sugar islands in 
1817, 369,577 were males, and 363,535 females, being very nearly an equal division of 
the sexes. 



56 

" between the management of human beings and that of cattle ; but 
being extremely just when applied to the present subject, it may 
be proper to trace the consequences of it. At the capital, near all 
great cities, hi all populous rich industrious provinces, few cattle 
are bred. Provisions, lodging, attendance, labor are there dear, 
and men find their account better in buying the cattle after they 
come to a certain age, from the remoter and cheaper countries. — 
These are consequently the only breeding countries for cattle; and 
by parity of reason for men too, when the latter are put on the 
same footing xy'uh the former, as to buying and selling. To rear 
a child in London till he could be serviceable, would cost much 
dearer than to buy one of the same age from Scotland or Ireland, 
where he had been bred in a cottage, covered with rags, and fed 
on oatmeal and potatoes. Those who had slaves therefore (in 
ancient times) in all the richer and more populous countries, would 
discourage the pregnancy of the females and either prevent or de- 
stroy the birth.* ... A perpetual recruit was therefore wanted 
from the poorer and more desert provinces. . . . All ancient au- 
thors tell us that there was a perpetual flux of slaves to Italy from 
the remoter provinces, particularly Syria, Cilicia,f Cappadocia 
and the lesser Asia, Thrace and Egypt. Yet the number of peo- 
ple did not increase in Italy." J It is thus we see every where that 
the spring of population accommodates itself to the demand for 
human beings, and becomes inert or active in proportion to the 
value of the laborer, and the small or great expense of rearing 
him. 

It was upon this very principle, that Mr. Pitt, in 1791, based 
the masterly and unanswerable argument contained in his splendid 
speech on the abolition of the slave trade ; in which he proved, 
upon data furnished by the West India planters themselves, that 
the moment an end was put to the slave trade, the natural increase 
of the negroes would commence, and more than keep up their 
numbers in the Islands. 

But our opponents perhaps may be disposed to answer, that this 
increase of slavery from the stimulus to the black population af- 
forded by the colonization abroad, ought not to be objected to on our 
own principles, since each slave will be worth two hundred dollars 
or more. This answer would be correct enough if it were not that 
the increase of the blacks is effected at our expense both as to wealth 
and numbers ; and to show this, we will now proceed to point out 
the operation of the scheme under consideration upon the white 
population. Malthus has clearly shown that population depends 
on the means of subsistence, and will, under ordinary circumstances, 



* Such means as the last mentioned, will never be resorted to by any civilized nation 
of modern times, either in Europe or America ; but others of a less objectionable cha- 
racter most certainly will be, whenever the rearing of slaves entails a great expense on 
the master. 

f " 10,000 slaves in a day have often been sold for the use of the Romans at Delos in 
Cilicia."— Strabo, Lib. 14. 

X See Hume's Essays, Part 2nd, Essay 11th, on Populousness of Ancient Empires. 



57 

increase to a level with them. Now by means of subsistence, we 
must not only comprehend the necessaries of life, such as food, 
clothing, shelter, &c.,but likewise such conveniences, comforts, and 
even luxuries, as the habits of the society may render it essential 
for all to enjoy. Whatever then has a tendency to destroy the 
wealth and diminish the aggregate capital of society, has the effect, 
as long as the standard of comfort* remains the same, to check the 
progress of the population. 

It is sure to discourage matrimony, and cause children to be less 
carefully attended to, and to be less abundantly supplied. The 
heavy burthens which have hitherto been imposed on Virginia, 
through the operation of Federal exactions, together with the high 
standard of comfort prevalent throughout the whole state, (about 
which we shall by and by make a (ew observations) have already 
imposed checks upon the progress of the white population of the 
state. If not one single individual were to emigrate from the state 
of Virginia, it would be found, so inert has become the principle 
of increase in the state, that the population would not advance with 
the average rapidity of the American people. Now, under these 
circumstances, an imposition of an additional burthen of 1,380,000 
dollars for the purpose of purchase and deportation of slaves, would 
add so much to the taxes of the citizens — would subtract so much 
from the capital of the state, and increase so greatly the embar- 
rassments of the whole population, that fewer persons would be 
enabled to support families, and consequently to get married. — 
This great tax, added to those we are already suffering under, 
would weigh like an incubus upon the whole state — it would ope- 
rate like the blighting hand of Providence that should render our 
soil barren and our labor unproductive. It would diminish the 
value of the fee simple of Virginia, and not only check the natu- 
ral increase of population within the commonwealth, but would 
make every man desirous of quitting the scenes of his home and 
his infancy, and fleeing from the heavy burthen which would for 
ever keep him and his children buried in the depths of poverty. 
His sale of negroes would partly enable him to emigrate ; and we 
have little doubt, that whenever this wild scheme shall be seriously 
commenced, it will be found that more whites than negroes will 
• be banished by its operation from the state. And there will be 
this lamentable difference between those who are left behind ; a 
powerful stimulus will be given to the procreative energies of the 
blacks, while those of the whites will be paralyzed and destroyed. 
Every emigrant from among the whites will create a vacuum not 
to be supplied — every removal of a black will stimulate to the ge- 
neration of another. 

" Uno avulso non deficit alter." 
The poverty stricken master would rejoice in the prolificness of 
his female slave, but pray Heaven in its kindness to strike with 

* By standard of comfort we mean that amount of necessaries, conveniences, and 
luxuries, which the habits of any people render essential to them. 



58 

barrenness his own spouse, lest in the plenitude of his misfortunes, 
brought on by the wild and Quixotic philanthropy of his govern- 
ment, he might see around him a numerous offspring unprovided 
for and destined to galling indigence, 

It is almost useless to inquire whether this deportation of slaves 
to Africa would, as some seem most strangely to anticipate, invite 
the whites of other slates into the commonwealth. Who would be 
disposed to enter a state with worn out soil and a black population 
mortgaged to the payment of millions per annum,, for the purpose 
of emancipation and deportation, when in the West the most luxu- 
riant soils, unencumbered with heavy exactions, could be purcha- 
sed for the paltry sum of $1 25 per acre? 

Where, then, is that multitude of whites to come from, which the 
glowing fancy of orators has sketched out as flowing into and fil- 
ling up the vacuum created by the removal of slaves ? The fact 
is — throughout the whole debate in the Virginia Legislature, the 
speakers seemed to consider the increase of population as a sort of 
fixed quantity, which would remain the same under the endless 
change of circumstance, and consequently that every man exported 
from among the blacks, lessened pro tanto exactly the black popula- 
tion, and that the whites, moving on with their usual speed, would 
fill the void; which certainly was an erroneous supposition, and 
manifested an almost unpardonable inattention to the -wonderful 
elasticity of the powerful spring of population. The removal of 
inhabitants, accompanied with great loss of productive labor and 
capital, so far from leaving the residue in a better situation, and 
disposing them to increase and multiply, produces the directly op- 
posite effect; it deteriorates the condition of society, and deadens 
the spring of population. It is curious to look to the history of 
the world, and see how completely this position is sustained by 
facts. Since the downfal of the Roman Empire, there have been 
three forced emigrations of very considerable extent, from three of 
the countries of Europe. The Moors were expelled from Spain, 
the Protestants from the Netherlands, and the Hugonots from 
France ; each of these expulsions came well nigh ruining the coun- 
try from which it took place. We are best acquainted with the 
effects of the expulsion of the Hugonots from France, because it 
happened nearer to our own times, during the reign of Louis XIV. 
In this case only 500,000 are supposed to have left France, con- 
taining then a population of 20 or 25,000,000 of souls. The en- 
ergies of this mighty country seemed at once paralyzed by this emi- 
gration, her prosperity was instantly arrested, her remaining 
population lost the vigor which characterized them as long as this 
leaven was among them, and to this day, France has not recovered 
from the tremendous blow. Her inferiority to England, in indus- 
try and all the useful arts, is in a great measure to be traced back 
to this stupid intolerance of her great monarch Louis XIV. The 
reason why these expulsions were so very injurious to the countries 
in question, was because the emigrants were the laboring classes of 



59 

society, and their banishment consequently dried up the sources of 
production, and lessened the aggregate wealth and capital of the 
people. Now these expulsions are nothing in comparison with that 
contemplated by our abolitionists. In France only one in fifty of 
the population was expelled, and no expense was incurred in the 
deportation ; but in Virginia the proportion to be expelled is much 
greater, and the expense is to devolve on the government. 

When the emigration is accompanied with no loss of capital to 
the state, and no abstraction of productive labor, then the popu- 
lation will not be injuriously affected, but sometimes greatly be- 
nefited. In the hunting state, the expulsion of half of the tribe 
would benefit the remainder in a politico-economical light, because 
they live on the game of the forest, which becomes more abundant 
as soon as the consumers diminish. Pastoral nations, for a like 
reason, are rarely injured by emigration, for they live on cattle, 
and the cattle live on the spontaneous produce of the earth, and 
when a colony is sent off, the remainder will generally be benefit- 
ed, since the consumption is relieved while the production is not 
diminished. And this satisfactorily explains the difficulty which 
has so much puzzled historians : — how the North of Europe, which 
Gibbon, Hume, and Robertson, all maintain was in a pastoral 
state, and not nearly so thickly settled as at present, should never- 
theless have been able for several centuries to furnish those terrible 
swarms of barbarians, who " gathering fresh darkness and terror" 
as they rolled on upon the South, at length, with their congrega- 
ted multitudes, " obscured the sun of Italy, and sunk the Roman 
world in night." This example of the barbarians in the North 
of Europe, sending so many hundreds of thousands of emigrants 
to the South, is a beautiful illustration of the capacity of popula- 
tion to counteract the effects of emigration in all those cases where 
the spring of population is not weakened. As soon as new swarms 
left the country, the means of subsistence were more ample for the 
residue; the vigor of population soon supplied the deficiency; 
and then another swarm went forth and relieved again the national 
hive. Our purchase and deportation of slaves would produce a 
similar effect on our blacks, but it would be entirely at the expense 
of both the numbers and wealth of the whites, and would be 
therefore one of the most blighting curses that could scathe the 
land. Ireland, at present, is suffering heavy afflictions from an 
overcrowded population; but her government could not relieve 
her by sending off the paupers, and for the simple reason that it 
would require an expense on the part of Ireland which would pro- 
duce as great or even greater abstraction of capital than of un- 
productive mouths, and would moreover give more vigor to the 
spring of population. If other nations would incur the expense 
for her, then perhaps there might be for her a temporary benefit; 
but in a short time such a stimulus would be given to population, 
as would counteract all the vain efforts of man, and in the end, 
leave her in a worse condition than before. We doubt whether 



60 

England, France, and Germany, by a steady concentration of all 
their financial resources upon the deportation and comfortable set- 
tlement and support of the superabundant population of Ireland, 
would, at the expiration of fifty years, be found to have lessened 
the numbers by one single individual.- The effect would merely 
be, to pledge the resources of these three nations to the support 
of the Irish population, and to substitute the procreation of Irish- 
men, for that of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Germans, and as soon 
as this support was withdrawn, the very habits which had been 
generated by it in Ireland, would be its greatest curse. The only 
effectual means of relieving Ireland, will be to raise the standard 
of comfort in that country, and to arrest the population by the pre- 
ventive checks which would lessen the marriages. Until this be 
done in some way or other, Ireland is doomed to suffer the heavy 
penalty. 

We are now prepared to explain how it is that so many negroes 
have been exported from Africa by the slave trade, while the gap, 
says Franklin, is almost imperceptible. Gen Broadnax, in his 
speech, computes the average number now annually sent out from 
Africa by the operation of the slave trade, to be 100,000; and, he 
adds, if all this can be effected against so many risks and hazards, 
and in violation of the laws of God and man, shall it be said that the 
whole state of Virginia cannot export 6,000 to Africa in a year? 
Yes, strange as it may seem, this is all true; and the simple reason 
of the great difference is, that Africa incurs no expense, but on the 
contrary, generally receives a full equivalent for the deported 
slave, which augments her means of subsistence, and stimulates 
the spring of population. The slave trade which takes off 100,000 
human beings from Africa for the slave market of the West Indies 
and South America, has by its operation, quickened the procreative 
powers of society in Africa to such an extent as not only to keep up 
her numbers, but to furnish besides 100,000 souls for exportation. 
Could we suppose it possible for this slave trade to be annihilated at a 
blow, repugnant and shocking as it is to every feeling of humanity, 
it would be found that its sudden cessation would plunge the whole 
of Western Africa for a season into the most dreadful anarchy and 
appalling distress. It would be found that the habits of the people 
had been formed to suit the slave trade, and accordingly would be 
much too favorable to the rapid increase of population without 
that trade, — prisoners of war would be slaughtered, infants mur- 
dered, marriages discouraged, and swarms of redundant citizens 
sent forth to ravage neighboring countries, and all this would arise 
from the too rapid increase of population, for the means of subsis- 
tence, caused by the sudden stopping of the slave trade. It will 
be thus seen that the 100,000 annually sent off from Africa, are 
a source of profit and not of expenditure. Saddle Africa with the 
whole of this burthen, and we are perfectly sure that the entire re- 
sources of that immense continent would not suffice to purchase 
up, send off. and colonize 5,000 per annum. There is the same 



61 

difference between this exportation from Africa, and that proposed 
by the abolitionists from Virginia, that there is between the agri- 
culturist who sends his produce to a foreign state or country and 
receives back a full equivalent, and him who is condemned to send 
his abroad at his own expense, and to distribute it gratuitously. 
We imagine that no one who was acquainted with the condition 
of these two farmers would wonder that one should grow wealthy, 
and the other miserably poor. The 6,000 slaves which Virginia 
annually sends off to the South are a source of wealth to Virgi- 
nia; but the 1,000 or 2,000 whites who probably go to the West 
are a source of poverty : because in the former case we have an 
equivalent left in the place of the exported slave — in the latter we 
lose both labor and capital without an equivalent; and precisely 
such a result in a much more aggravated form, will spring from 
this mad colonization scheme, should it ever be carried into ope- 
ration. If the governments of Europe were silly enough to ap- 
propriate their resources to the purchase of our slaves, at their 
full marketable value, for the purpose of deportation, they should, 
for ought that we could do, have every one that they could buy. 
An equivalent would thus be left for the deported slave, and how- 
ever much others might suffer for their folly, we should escape.* 

Against most of the great difficulties attendant on the plan of 
emancipation above examined, it was impossible for the abolition- 
ists entirely to close their eyes ; and it is really curious to pause a 
moment and examine some of the reflections and schemes by which 
Virginia was to be reconciled to the plan. We have been told that 
it would not be necessary to purchase all the slaves sent away — that 
many would be surrendered by their owners without an equivalent. 
"There are a number of slave-holders," (said one who has all the 
lofty feeling and devoted patriotism which have hitherto so proudly 
characterized Virginia,) "at this very time, I do not speak from 
vain conjecture, but from what I know from the best information, 
and this number would continue to increase, who would voluntarily 
surrender their slaves, if the state would provide the means of co- 
lonizing them elsewhere. And there would be again another class, 
I have already heard of many, while they could not afford to sa- 
crifice the entire value of their slaves, would cheerfully compro- 
mise with the state for half of their value." In the first place, we 
would remark that the gentleman's anticipation would certainly 
prove delusive — the surrender of a very few slaves would enhance 
the importance and value of the residue, and make the owner much 
more reluctant to part with them. Let any farmer in Lower Vir- 
ginia ask himself how many he can spare from his plantation — 
and he will be surprised to see how few can be dispensed with. If 

* Perhaps one of the greatest blessings (if it could be reconciled to our conscience) 
which could be conferred on the southern portion of the Union, would arise from the 
total abolition of the African slave trade, and the opening the West Indian and South 
American markets to our slaves. We do not believe that deportation to any other 
quarter, or in any other way, can ever effect the slightest diminution. 

9 



62 

that intelligent gentleman, from the storehouse of his knowledge, 
would but call up the history of the past, he would see that mere 
philanthropy, with all her splendid boastings, has never yet accom- 
plished one great scheme; he would find the remark of that 
great judge of human nature, the illustrious author of the Wealth 
of Nations, that no people had the generosity to liberate their 
slaves until it became their interest to do so, but too true ; and the 
philosophic page of Hume, Robertson, Stuart, and Sismondi, 
would inform him that the serfs of Europe have been only gradu- 
ally emancipated through the operation of self interest and not 
philanthropy : and we shall soon see that it was fortunate for both 
parties that this was the cause. 

But it is strange indeed that gentlemen have never reflected, that 
the pecuniary loss to the State, will be precisely the same, whether 
the negroes be purchased or gratuitously surrendered. In the latter 
case the burthen is only shifted from the whole State to that portion 
where the surrender is made — thus if we own $ 10,000 worth of 
this property, and surrender the whole to government, it is evident 
that we lose the amount of $ 10,000; and if the whole of Lower 
Virginia could at once be induced to give up all of this property, 
and it could be sent away, the only effect of this generosity and self 
devotion would be to inflict the blow of desolation more exclusively 
on this portion of the State — the aggregate loss would be the same, 
the burthen would only be shifted from the whole to a part — the 
West would dodge the blow, and perhaps every candid citizen of 
Lower Virginia would confess that he is devoid of that refined in- 
comprehensible patriotism which would call for self immolation on 
the shrine of folly, and would most conscientiously advise the eas- 
tern Virginians never to surrender their slaves to the government 
without a fair equivalent. Can it be genuine philanthropy to per- 
suade them alone to step forward and bear the whole burthen ? 

Again ; some have attempted to evade the difficulties by seizing 
on the increase of the negroes after a certain time. Thus Mr. 
Randolph's plan proposed that all born after the year 1840, should 
be raised by their masters to the age of eighteen for the female 
and twenty-one for the male, and then hired out, until the neat 
sum arising therefrom amounted to enough to send them away. 
Scarcely any one in the legislature — we believe not even the au- 
thor himself — entirely approved of this plan.* It is obnoxious to 
the objections we have just been stating against voluntary surrender. 
It proposes to saddle the slave-holder with the whole burthen ; it 
infringes directly the rights of property ; it converts the fee 
simple possession of this kind of property into an estate for years; 
and it only puts off the great sacrifice required of the state to 
1840, when most of the evils will occur that have already been 
described. In the mean time it destroys the value of slaves, and 



* The difficulty of falling upon any definite plan which can for a moment command 
the approbation of even a few of the most intelligent abolitionists, is an unerring symp- 
tom of the difficulty and impracticability of the whole. 



63 

with it all landed possessions — checks the productions of the state, 
imposes (when 1840 arrives) upon the master the intolerable and 
grievous burthen of raising his young slaves to the ages of eigh- 
teen and tvventy-one^and then liberating them to be hired out un- 
der the superintendence of government (the most miserable of all 
managers,) until the proceeds arising therefrom shall be sufficient 
to send them away. If any man at all conversant with political 
economy should ever anticipate the day when this shall happen, 
we can only say that his faith is great indeed, enough to remove 
mountains, and that he has studied in a totally different school 
from ourselves. Let us ask in the language of one of Virginia's 
most cherished statesmen, who has stood by and defended with so 
much zeal and ability the interests of Lower Virginia — and who 
shone forth one of the brightest stars in that constellation of talent 
which met together in the Virginia Convention — " Is it supposed 
that any tyranny can subdue us to the patient endurance of such a 
state of things? Every prudent slave holder in the slave holding 
parts of the state, would either migrate with his slaves to some 
state where his rights in slave property would be secured to him by 
the laws, or would surrender at once his rights in the parent stock 
as well as in their future increase, and seek some land where he may 
enjoy at least the earnings of his own industry. In the first case, 
the country would be deserted; in the other it would be abandon- 
ed to the slaves, to be cultivated under the management of the 
state. The plan would result in a sacrifice, more probably an 
abandonment, of our landed, as well as the abolition of our slave 
property. Can any thing but force, can any force tame. us to 
wrongs like these."* 

Again ; we entirely agree with the assertion of Mr. Brown, one 
of the ablest and most promising of Virginia's sons, that the inge- 
nuity of man, if exerted for the purpose, could not devise a more 
efficient mode of producing discontent among our slaves, and thus 
endangering the peace of the community. There are born annually 
of this population about 20,000 children. Those which are born 
before the year 1840 are to be slaves; those which are born after 
that period are to be free at a certain age. These two classes will 
be reared together; they will labor together, and commune to- 
gether. It cannot escape the observation of him who is doomed 
to servitude, that although of the same colour and born of the 
same parents, a far different destiny awaits his more fortunate bro- 
ther — as his thoughts again and again revert to the subject, he be- 
gins to regard himself as the victim of injustice. Cheerfulness 
and contentment will flee from his bosom, and the most harmless 
and happy creature that lives on earth, will be transformed into a 
dark designing and desperate rebel. (BrowrCs Speech, pp. 8, 9.) 

There are some again who exhaust their ingenuity in devising 
schemes for taking off the breeding portion of the slaves to Africa, 

* Letters of Appomattox to people of Virginia, 1st Letter, p. 13. 



64 

or carrying away the sexes in such disproportions as will in a 
measure prevent those left behind from breeding. All of these 
plans merit nothing more than the appellation of vain juggling le- 
gislative conceits, unworthy of a wise statesman and a moral man. 
If our slaves are ever to be sent away in any systematic manner, 
humanity demands that they should be carried in families. The 
voice of the world would condemn Virginia if she sanctioned any 
plan of deportation by which the male and female, husband and 
wife, parent and child, were systematically and relentlessly sepa- 
rated. If we are to indulge in this kind of regulating vice, why 
not cure the ill at once, by following the counsel of Xenophon in 
his Economics, and the practice of old Cato the Censor? Let us 
keep the male and female separate* in Ergastula or dungeons, if it 
be necessary, and then one generation will pass away, and the evil 
will be removed to the heart's content of our humane philanthro- 
pists! But all these puerile conceits fall far short of surmounting 
the great difficulty which, like Memnon, is eternally present and 
cannot be removed. 

" Seclet eternumque sedebit." 

There is $100,000,000 of slave property in the state of Vir- 
ginia, and it matters but little how you destroy it, whether by the 
slow process of the cautious practitioner, or with the frightful des- 
patch of the self confident quack; when it is gone, no matter how, 
the deed will be done, and Virginia will be a desert. 

We shall now proceed to examine briefly the most dangerous of 
all the wild doctrines advanced by the abolitionists in the Virginia 
Legislature, and the one which, no doubt, will be finally acted up- 
on, if ever this business of emancipation shall be seriously com- 
menced. It was contended that property is the creature of civil so- 
ciety, and is subject to its action even to destruction. But lest we 
may misrepresent, we will give the language of the gentleman 
who first boldly and exultingly announced it. " My views are 
briefly these," said Mr. Faulkner; "they go to the foundation 
upon which the social edifice rests — property is the creature of civil 
society. — So long as that property is not dangerous to the good or- 
der of society, it may and will be tolerated. But, sir, so soon as 
it is ascertained to jeopardize the peace, the happiness, the good 
order, nay the very existence of society, from that moment the 
right by which they hold their property is gone, society ceases to 
give its consent, the condition upon which they are permitted to 
hold it is violated, their right ceases. — Why, sir, it is ever a rule 
of municipal law, and we use this merely as an illustration of the 
great principles of society, sic utere tuo ut alienum non Icedas. So 
hold your property as not to injure the property, still less the lives 
and happiness of your neighbors. And the moment, even in the 
best regulated communities, there is in practice a departure from 
this principle, you may abate the nuisance. It may cause loss, but 

* See Hume's Essay on the populousness of Ancient Nations, where he ascribes this 
practice to Cato and others, to prevent their slaves from breeding. 



65 

it is what our black letter gentlemen term Damnum absque injuria, 
a loss for which the law affords no remedy." Now for the appli- 
cation of these principles: «' Sir, to contend that full value shall 
be paid for the slaves by the commonwealth, now or at any future 
period of their emancipation, is to deny all right of action upon 
this subject whatsoever. It is not within the financial ability of 
the state to purchase them. We have not the means — the utmost 
extremity of taxation would fall far short of an adequate treasury. 
What then shall be done? We must endeavor to ascertain some 
middle ground of compromise between the rights of the commu- 
nity and the rights of individuals, some scheme which, while it re- 
sponds to the demands of the people for the extermination of the 
alarming evil, will not in its operation disconcert the settled insti- 
tutions of society, or involve the slave holder in pecuniary ruin 
and embarrassment." (Faulkner 's Speech, pp. 14, 15, 16.) 

To these doctrines we call the serious attention of the whole 
slave-holding population of our Union, for all alike are concerned. 
It is time indeed for Achilles to rise from his inglorious repose and 
buckle on his armor, when the enemy are about to set fire to the 
fleet. This doctrine, absurd as it may seem in the practical appli- 
cation made by the speaker, will be sure to become the most popu- 
lar with those abolitionists in Virginia, who have no slave property 
to sacrifice. It is the remark of Hobbes, that men might easily be 
brought to deny that " things equal to the same are equal to each 
other," if their fancied interests were opposed in any way to the 
admission of this axiom. We find that the highly obnoxious doc- 
trine just spoken of, was not entertained by the gentleman from 
Berkeley alone, but was urged to an equally offensive extent by Mr. 
M'Dowell, who is supposed by his friends to have made the most 
able and eloquent speech in favor of abolition. He says, "when 
it (property) loses its utility, when it no longer contributes to the 
personal benefits and wants of its holders in any equal degree 
with the expense or the risk or the danger of keeping it, much 
more when it jeopards the security of the public; — when this 
is the case, then the original purpose for which it is authorized 
is lost, its character of property in the just and beneficial sense of 
it is gone, and it may be regulated without private injustice, in any 
manner which the general good of the community, by whose laws 
it was licensed, may require." (M l DowelV 's Speech, see Richmond 
Whig, 24th March 1832.) It is thus, if we may borrow the justly 
indignant language of Mr. Goode's eloquent and forcible speech, 
that " our property has been compared to a nuisance which the 
commonwealth may abate at pleasure. A nation of souls to be 
abated by the mere effort of the will of the general assembly. A 
nation of free men to hold their property by the precarious ten- 
ure of the precarious will of the general assembly ! ! and to recon- 
cile us to our condition, we are assured by the gentleman from 
Berkeley, that the general assembly, in the abundance of its libe- 
rality, is ready to enter into a compromise, by which we shall be 






66 

permitted to hold our own property twenty eight years! on condi- 
tion that we then surrender it absolutely and unconditionally. — Sir, 
I cannot but admire the frankness with which these gentlemen have 
treated this subject. They have exhibited themselves in the fulness 
of their intentions; given us warning of their designs; and we now 
see in all its nakedness the vanity of all hope of compensation."— - 
(Goode's Speech, p. 29.) 

The doctrine of these gentlemen, so far from being true in its 
application, is not true in theory. The great object of government 
is the protection of property : — from the days of the patriarchs down 
to the present time, the great desideratum has been to find out the 
most efficient mode of protecting property. There is not a govern- 
ment at this moment in Christendom, whose peculiar practical cha- 
racter is not the result of the state of property. 

No government can exist which does not conform to the state of 
property ; — it cannot make the latter conform entirely to the govern- 
ment; — an attempt to do it would and ought to revolutionize any 
state. The great difficulty in forming the government of any coun- 
try arises almost universally from the state of property, and the ne- 
cessity of making it conform to that state; and it was the state of 
property in Virginia which really constituted the whole difficulty in 
the late convention. There is aright which these gentlemen seem 
likewise to have had in their minds, which writers on the law of 
nations call the right of eminent or transcendental domain ; that 
right by which* in an exigency, the government or its agents may 
seize on persons or property, to be used for the general weal. Now, 
upon this there are two suggestions which at once present them- 
selves. — First, that this right only occurs in cases of real exigency ;* 
and secondly, that the writers on national law — and the Constitu- 
tion of the United States expressly sanctions the principle — say, 
that no property can be thus taken without full and fair compen- 
sation. f 

These gentlemen, we hope to prove conclusively before finishing, 
have failed to show the exigency; and even if they have proved that, 
they deny the right of compensation, and upon what principle? why, 
that the whole state is not competent to afford it, and may therefore 
justly abate the nuisance. And is it possible that a burthen, in this 
christian land, is most unfeelingly and remorselessly to be imposed 
upon a portion of the state, which, by the very confession of the 
gentlemen who urge it, could not be borne by the whole without 
inevitable ruin f But it was the main object of their speeches to show, 
that slave property is valueless, that it is a burthen, a nuisance to 
the owner; and they seemed most anxious to enlighten the poor ig- 
norant farmers on this point, who hold on with such pertinacity to 

* It is, then, the right of necessity, and may be defined that right tohich authorizes the 
performance of an act absolutely necessary for the discharge of an indisputable duty. But pri- 
vate property must always be paid for. 

tThe Congress of the United States, in the case of Marigny d'Auterive, placed slave 
property upon precisely the same footing, in this respect, with all other kinds. 



67 

this kind of property, which is inflicting its bitterest sting upon 
them. Now, is it not enough for the slave holder to reply, that the 
circumstance of the slave bearing the price of two hundred dollars 
in the market, is an evidence of his value with every one acquainted 
with the elements of political economy ; that, generally speaking, 
the market value of the slave is even less than his real value; for 
no one would like to own and manage slaves unless equally or more 
profitable than other kinds of investments in the same community; 
and if this or that owner may be pointed out as ruined by this spe- 
cies of property, might we not point to merchants, mechanics, law- 
yers, doctors, and divines, all of whom have been ruined by their 
several pursuits; and must all these employments be abated as nui- 
sances, to satisfy the crude, undigested theories of tampering legis- 
lators ? "It is remarkable," we quote the language of the author 
of the Letters of Appomattox, " that this, ' nuisance' is more of- 
fensive in a direct ratio to its distance from the complaining party, 
and in an- inverse ratio to the quantity of offending matter in his 
neighborhood; that a ' magazine of gunpowder' in the town of 
Norfolk is a 'nuisance' to the county of Berkeley, and to all the 
people of the west ! The people of the west, in which there are com- 
paratively few slaves, in which there never can be any great increase 
of that kind of property, because their agriculture does not require 
it, and because in a great part of their country the negro race can- 
not be acclimated — the people of the west find our slave property 
in our planting country, where it is valuable, a 'nuisance' to them. 
This reverses the proverb, that men bear the ills of others better 
than their own. J have known men sell all their slave property 
and vest the proceeds in the stocks, and become zealous for the 
abolition of slavery. And it would be a matter of curiosity to 
ascertain (if it could be done) the aggregate number of slaves, held 
by all the orators and all the printers who are so willing to abate 
the nuisance of slave property held by other people. I suspect 
the census would be very short." — Letters of Appomattox to the 
People of Virginia. 

The fact is, it is always a most delicate and dangerous task for 
one set of people to legislate for another, without any community 
of interests. It is sure to destroy the great principle of responsi- 
bility, and in the end to lay the weaker interest at the mercy of the 
stronger. It subverts the very end for which all governments are 
established, and becomes intolerable, and consequently against the 
fundamental rights of man, whether prohibited by the constitution 
or not. 

If a convention of the whole state of Virginia were called, and 
in due form the right of slave property were abolished by the votes 
of Western Virginia alone, does any one think that Eastern Vir- 
ginia would be bound to yield to the decree? Certainly not. The 
strong and unjust man in a state of nature robs the weaker, and 
you establish government to prevent this oppression. Now, only 
sanction the doctrine of the Virginia orators, let one interest in 



68 

the government (the west) rob another at pleasure (the east), and 
is there any man who can fail to see that government is systemati- 
cally producing that very oppression which it is intended to remedy, 
and for which alone it is established? In forming the late Consti- 
tution of Virginia, the East objected to the " white hasis princi- 
ple," upon the very grounds that it .would enable Western to op- 
press Eastern Virginia, through the medium of slave property. 
The most solemn asseverations of a total unwillingness, on the part 
of the West, to meddle with or touch the slave population, beyond the 
rightful and equitable demands of revenue, were repeatedly made 
by their orators. And now, what has the lapse of two short years 
developed? Why, that the West, unmindful of former professions, 
and regardless of the eternal principles of justice, is urging on an 
invasion and final abolition of that kind of property which it was 
solemnly pledged to protect! Is it possible that gentlemen can 
have reflected upon the consequences which even the avowal of 
such doctrines is calculated to produce? Are they conciliatory? 
Can the}' be taken kindly by the East? Is it not degrading for 
freemen to stand quailing with the fear of losing that property 
which they have been accumulating for ages — to stand waiting in 
fearful anxiety for the capricious edict of the West, which may say 
to one man, "sir, you musi give up your property, although you 
have amassed it under the guarantee of the laws and constitutions 
of your state and of the United States;" and to another, who is near 
him and has an equal amount of property of a different descrip- 
tion, and has no more virtue and no more conscience than the 
slave holder, "you may hold yours, because we do not yet consi- 
der it a 'nuisance'?" This is language which cannot fail to awa- 
ken the people to a sense of their danger. These doctrines, when- 
ever announced in debate, have a tendency to disorganize and 
unhinge the condition of society, and to produce uncertainty and 
alarm;* to create revulsions of capital; to cause the land of Old 
Virginia, and real source of wealth, to be abandoned; and her 
white wealthy population to flee the state, and seek an asylum in a 
land where they will be protected in the enjoyment of the fruits of 
their industry. In fine, we would say, these doctrines are "nui- 
sances," and if we were disposed to retaliate, would add that they 
ought to be " abated." We will close our remarks on this dange- 
rous doctrine, by calling upon Western Virginia and the non-slave- 
holders of Eastern Virginia, not to be allured by the syren song. 
It is as delusive as it may appear fascinating; all the sources of 
wealth and departments of industry, all the great interests of so- 
ciety, are really interwoven with one another — they form an in- 
dissoluble chain; a blow at any part quickly vibrates through the 
whole length — the destruction of one interest involves another. 

* We look upon these doctrines as calculated to produce precisely the same results 
as are produced by the government of Turkey, which, by rendering property insecure, 
has been able to arrest, and permanently to repress, the prosperity of the fairest and 
most fertile portions of the globe. 



69 

Destroy agriculture, destroy tillage, and the ruin of the farmer 
will draw down ruin upon the mechanic, the merchant, the sailor, 
and the manufacturer — they must all flee together from the land of 
desolation. 

We hope we have now satisfactorily proved the impracticability 
of sending off the whole of our slave population, or even the an- 
nual increase; and we think we have been enabled to do this by 
pointing out only one half of the difficulties which attend the 
scheme. We have so far confined our attention to the expense 
and difficulty of purchasing the slaves, and sending them across 
the ocean. We have now to look a little to the recipient or terri- 
tory to which the blacks are to be sent ; and if we know any thing 
of the history and nature of colonization, we shall be completely 
upheld in the assertion, that the difficulties on this score are just 
as great and insurmountable as those which we have shown to be 
attendant on the purchase and deportation. We shall be enabled 
to prove, if we may use the expression, a double impracticability 
attendant on all these schemes. 

The Impossibility of Colonizing the Blacks. 

The whole subject of colonization is much more difficult and 
intricate than is generally imagined, and the difficulties are often 
very different from what would, on slight reflection, be anticipated. 
They are of three kinds, physical, moral, and national. The for- 
mer embraces unhealthy climate or want of proper seasoning, a 
difficulty of procuring subsistence and the conveniences of life, 
ignorance of the adaptations and character of the soils, want of 
habitations, and the necessity of living together in multitudes for 
the purposes of defence, whilst purposes of agriculture require that 
they should live as dispersed as possible. The moral difficulties 
arise from a want of adaptation on the part of the new colonists to 
their new situation, want of conformity in habits, manners, tem- 
pers, and dispositions, producing a heterogeneous mass of popula- 
tion, uncemented and unharmonizing. Lastly, the difficulties of a 
national character embrace all the causes of altercation and rup- 
ture between the colonists and neighboring tribes or nations; all 
these dangers, difficulties, and hardships, are much greater than 
generally believed. Every new colony requires the most constant 
attention, the most cautious and judicious management in both the 
number and character of the emigrants, a liberal supply of both 
capitaL and provisions, together with a most watchful and paternal 
government on the part of the mother country, which may defend 
it against the incursions and depredations of warlike or savage 
neighbors. Hence the very slow progress made by all colonies in 
their first settlement. 

The history of colonization is well calculated of itself to dissi- 
pate all the splendid visions which our chimerical philanthropists 
have indulged, in regard to its efficiency in draining off a redun- 
10 



70 

dant or noxious population. The rage for emigration to the 
New World, discovered by Columbus, was at first very considera- 
ble; the brilliant prospects which were presented to the view of 
the Spaniards, of realizing fortunes in the abundant mines and on 
the rich soils of the islands and the continent, enticed many at 
first to leave their homes in search of wealth, happiness, and dis<- 
tinction — and what was the consequence? "The numerous hard- 
ships with which the members of infant colonies have to struggle," 
says Robertson, "the diseases of unwholesome climates, fatal to 
the constitutions of Europeans; the difficulty of bringing a coun- 
try covered with forests into culture; the want of hands necessary 
for labor in some provinces, and the slow reward of industry in 
all, unless where the accidental discovery of mines enriched a few 
fortunate adventurers, were evils immensely felt and magnified. 
Discouraged by the view of these, the spirit of migration was so 
much damped, that sixty years after the discovery of the New 
World, the number of Spaniards in all its provinces is computed 
not to have exceeded •15,000!"* Even these few were settled at 
an expense of life both to the emigrants and the natives, which is 
really shocking to the feelings of humanity ; and we cannot peruse 
the accounts of the conquests of Mexico and Peru, without feeling 
that the race destroyed was equal, in moral worth at least, to their 
destroyers. 

In the settlement of Virginia, begun by Sir Walter Raleigh, and 
established by Lord Delaware, three attempts completely failed; 
nearly half of the first colony was destroyed by the savages, and 
the rest, consumed and worn down by fatigue and famine, deserted 
the country and returned home in despair. The second colony 
was cut off to a man in a manner unknown ; but they were suppos- 
ed to have been destroyed by the Indians. The third experienced 
the same dismal fate; and the remains of the fourth, after it had 
been reduced by famine and disease, in the course of six months, 
from five hundred to sixty persons, were returning in a famished 
and desperate condition to England, when they were met in the 
mouth of the Chesapeake Bay by Lord Delaware, with a squadron 
loaded with provisions, and every thing for their relief and defence. f 
The first puritan settlers, in like manner, suffered "woes unnum- 
bered," — -nearly half perished by want, scurvy, and the severity of 
the climate. 

The attempts to settle New-Holland, have presented a melan- 
choly and affecting picture of the extreme hardships which infant 
colonies have to struggle with before the produce is even equal to 
the support of the colonists. The establishment of colonies, too, 
in the eastern part of the Russian dominions, has been attended 
with precisely the same difficulties and hardships. 

After this very brief general review of the history of modern co- 

" * Robertson's America, Vol. 2. p. 151. 

faftfrtts on Population, given upon the authority of both Burke's and Robertson's 

Virginia. 



Ionization, we will now proceed to examine into the prospects of 
colonizing our blacks on the coast of Africa, in such numbers as 
to lessen those left behind. And in the first place we would re- 
mark, that almost all countries, especially those in southern and 
tropica] latitudes, are extremely unfavorable to life when first clear- 
ed and cultivated. Almost the whole territory of the United States 
and South America, offer a conclusive illustration of this fact. 
We are daily witnessing, in the progress of tillage in our country, 
the visitation of diseases of the most destructive kind, over re- 
gions hitherto entirely exempt; our bilious fevers, for example, 
seem to travel in great measure with the progress of opening, 
clearing, and draining of the country. Now, when we turn our 
attention to Africa, on which continent all agree that we must co- 
lonize, if at all, we find almost the whole continent possessing an 
insalubrious climate under the most favorable circumstances ; 
and, consequently, we may expect this evil will be enhanced dur- 
ing the incipient stages of society, at any given point, while the 
progress of clearing, draining, and tilling is going forward. All 
the travellers through Africa agree in their descriptions of the ge- 
neral insalubrity of the climate. Park and Buffon agree in staling, 
that longevity is very rare among the negroes. At forty they are 
described as wrinkled and gray haired, and few of them survive 
the age of fifty-five or sixty; a Shangalla woman, says Bruce, at 
twenty-two, is more wrinkled and deformed by age, than a Euro- 
pean at sixty; this short duration of life is attributable to the cli- 
mate, for in looking over the returns of the census in our country, we 
find a much larger proportional number of cases of longevity among 
the blacks than the whites. "If accurate registers of mortality," 
says Malthus, .(and no one was more indefatigable in his research- 
es, or more capable of drawing accurate conclusions) "were kept 
among these nations (African), I have little doubt, that including 
the mortality from wars, one in seventeen or eighteen, at least, dies 
annually, instead of one in thirty-four or thirty-six, as in the gen- 
erality of European states."* The sea coast is described as be- 
ing generally much more unhealthy than the interior. " Perhaps 
it is on this account chiefly," says Park, " that the interior coun- 
tries abound more with inhabitants than the maritime districts. "f 
The deleterious effects of African climate, are of course much 
greater upon those accustomed to different latitudes and not yet 
acclimated. It is melancholy, indeed, to peruse the dreadful 
hardships and unexampled mortality attendant upon those compa- 
nies which have from time to time, actuated by the most praisewor- 
thy views, penetrated into the interior of Africa. 

It is difficult to say, which has presented most obstacles to the 
inquisitive traveller, the suspicion and barbarity of the natives, or 
the dreadful insalubrity of the climate. Now, it is to this conti- 

* See Malthus on Population, Book I. 1. 8. 

fSee Park's Travels in Africa, p. 193. New York Edition. 



72 



nent, the original home of our blacks, to this destructive climate 
we propose to send the slave of our country, after the lapse of ages 
has completely inured him to our colder and more salubrious con- 
tinent. It is true, that a territory has already been secured for the 
Colonization Society of this country, which is said to enjoy an unu- 
sually healthful climate. Granting that this may be the case, still 
when we come to examine into the capacity of the purchased terri- 
tory for the reception of emigrants, we find that it only amounts 
to about 10,000 square miles, not a seventh of the super- 
ficies of Virginia. When other sites are fixed upon, we may 
not, and cannot expect to be so fortunate; — are not the most 
healthy districts in Africa the most populous, according to Park 
and all travellers ? Will not these comparatively powerful nations, 
in all probability relinquish their territory with great reluctance? 
Will not our lot be consequently cast on barren sands or amid pes- 
tilential atmospheres, and tnen what exaggerated tales and false 
statements must be made if we would reconcile the poor blacks to 
a change of country pregnant with their fate? 

But we believe that the very laudable zeal of many conscien- 
tious philanthropists has excited an overweening desire to make 
our colony in Liberia, in every point of view, appear greatly su- 
perior to what it is. We know the disposition of all travellers to 
exaggerate; we know the benevolent feelings of the human heart, 
which prompt us to gratify and minister to the desires and sympa- 
thies of those around us, and we know that philanthropic schemes, 
emancipation, and colonization societies, now occupy the public 
mind, and receive the largest share of public applause. Under 
these circumstances, we are not to wonder if coloring should 
sometimes impair the statements of those who have visited the co- 
lony ; for ourselves, we may be too sceptical, but are rather disposed 
to judge from facts which are acknowledged by all, than from gen- 
eral statements from officers and interested agents. In 1819, two 
agents were sent to Africa to survey the coast and make a selection 
of a suitable situation for a colony. In their passage home in 

1820, one died. In the same year, 1820, the Elizabeth was char- 
tered and sent out with three agents and eighty emigrants. All 
three of the agents and twenty of the emigrants died, a proportion- 
al mortality greater than in the middle passage, which has so justly 
shocked the humane feelings of mankind, and much greater than 
that occasioned by that dreadful plague (the Cholera) which is now 
clothing our land in mourning, and causing our citizens to flee in 
every direction to avoid impending destruction. In the spring of 

1821, four new agents were sent out, of whom one returned sick, 
one died in August, one in September, and we know not what be- 
came of the fourth.* It is agreed on all hands, that there is a 
seasoning necessary, and a formidable fever to be encountered, be- 

* These facts we have stated upon the authority of Mr. Carey, of Philadelphia, who 
has given us an interesting, but I fear too flattering account of the Colony, in a series 
of letters addressed to the Hon. Charles F. Mercer. 



73 

fore the colonists can enjoy tolerable health. Mr. Ashmun, wh'o 
afterwards fell a victim to the climate, insisted that the night air of 
Liberia was free from all noxious effects; and yet we find that the 
emigrants, carried by the Volador to Liberia a year or two since, 
are said to have fared well, losing only two, in consequence of 
every precaution having been taken against the night air, while the 
most dreadful mortality destroyed those of the Carolinian, which 
went out nearly contemporaneously with the Volador. The letter 
of Mr. Reynolds marked G, at the conclusion of the Fifteenth An- 
nual report of the American Colonization Society, instructs us in 
the proper method of preserving health on the coast of Africa, and 
in spite of the flattering accounts and assurances of agents and 
philanthropists, we should be disposed to take warning from these 
salutary hints. The following are some of them; — 

" 1st. On no account to suffer any of the crew to be out of the 
ship at sunset. 

"2d. To have a sail stretched on the windward side of the ves- 
sel ; and an awning was also provided, which extended over the 
poop and the whole main deck, to defend the crew from the night air. 

" 3d. The night watch was encouraged to smoke tobacco. 

"4th. To distribute French brandy to the crew whilst in port, 
in lieu of rum. (The editor of the Report modestly recommends 
strong coffee.) The crew on rising were served with a liberal al- 
lowance of strong coffee before commencing their day's work. 

"The result was that the ships on each side of the Cambridge 
lost the greater part of their crews; and not one man of her crew 
was seriously unwell." (Fifteenth Annual Report, p. 51 , published 
in Georgetown, 1832J 

We have said enough to show that the Continent of Africa, and 
its coasts particularly, are extremely unhealthy — that the natives 
themselves are not long lived — and that unacclimated foreigners 
are in most imminent danger. That there may be some healthy 
points on the sea shore, and salubrious districts in the interior, and 
that Liberia may be fortunately one of them, we are even willing 
to admit — but then we know that generally the most insalubrious 
portions will fall into our possession, because those of an opposite 
character are already too densely populated to be deserted by the 
natives — and consequently, let us view the subject as we please, 
we shall have this mighty evil of unhealthy climate to overcome. 
We have seen already, in the past history of our colony, that the 
slightest blunder, in landing on an unhealthy coast, in exposure 
to a deadly night air, or in neglecting the necessary precautions du- 
ring the period of acclimating, has proved most frightfully fatal to 
both blacks and whites. Suppose now, that instead of the one or 
two hundred sent by the Colonization Society, Virginia should ac- 
tually send out six thousand — or if we extend our views to 
the whole United States, that sixty thousand should be annually 
exported, accompanied of course by some hundreds of wkites, 
what an awful fatality might we not occasionally expect? The 
chance for blundering would be infinitely increased, and if some 



74 

ships might fortunately distribute their cargoes with the loss of 
few lives, others again might lose all their whites and a fourth or 
more of the blacks, as we know has already happened; and al- 
though this fatality might arise from blunder or accident, yet would 
it strike the imagination of men — and that which may be kept 
comparatively concealed now, would, when the number of emi- 
grants swelled to such multitudes, produce alarm and consterna- 
tion. We look forward confidently to the day, if this wild scheme 
should be persevered in for a few years, when the poor African 
slave, on bended knees, might implore a remission of that fatal 
sentence which would send him to the land of his forefathers. 

But the fact is, that all climates will prove fatal to emigrants 
who come out in too great crowds, whether they are naturally 
unhealthy or not. One of the greatest attempts at colonization 
in modern times, was the effort of the French to plant at once 
12,000 emigrants on the coast of Guiana. The consequence was, 
that in a very short time 10,000 of them lost their lives in all the 
horrors of despair, 2,000 returned to France, the scheme failed, 
and 25,000,000 of francs, says Raynal, were totally lost. Seven- 
ty-five thousand Christians, says Mr. Eaton in his account of the 
Turkish empire, were expelled by Russia from the Crimea, and 
forced to inhabit the country deserted by the T*Jogai Tartars, and 
in a few years only 7000 of them remained. In like manner, if 
6000, or much more, if 60,000 negroes, with their careless and 
filthy habits, were annually sent to Africa, we could not calculate, 
for the first one or two years, upon less than the death of one-half 
or perhaps three-fourths ; and, repugnant as the assertion may be 
to the feelings of benevolence, we have no hesitation in saying, that 
nothing but a most unparalleled mortality among the emigrants, 
would enable us to support the colony for even a year or two. 
Aristotle was of opinion, that the keeping of 5000 soldiers in 
idleness would ruin an empire. If the brilliant anticipations of 
our colonization friends shall be realized, and the day actually 
arrives, when 60.000, or even 6000 blacks can be annually landed 
in health upon the coast of Africa, then will the United States, or 
broken down Virginia, be obliged to support an empire in idleness. 
"The first establishment of a new colony," says Malthus, "gen- 
erally presents an instance of a country peopled considerably be- 
yond its actual produce; and the natural consequence seems to be, 
that this population, if not amply supplied by the mother country, 
should, at the commencement, be diminished to the level of the first 
scanty productions, and not begin permanently to increase till the 
remaining numbers had so far cultivated the soil as to make it 
yield a quantity of food more than sufficient for their own sup- 
port, and which consequently they could divide with a famity. 
The frequent failures of new colonies tend strongly to show the 
order of precedence between food and population." * It is for 



* Malthus on Population, vol. 2. pp. 140, 141. 



75 

this reason that colonies so slowly advance at first, and it becomes 
necessary to feed them (if we may so express ourselves) with ex- 
treme caution, and with limited numbers, in the beginning. But 
a few additional mouths will render support from the mother coun- 
try necessary. If this state of things continues for a short time, 
you make the colony a great pauper establishment, and generate 
all those habits of idleness and worthlessness which will ever cha- 
racterize a people dependent on the bounty of others for their 
subsistence. If Virginia should send out 6000 emigrants to Afri- 
ca, and much more, if the United States should send 60,000, the 
whole colony would inevitably perish, if the wealth of the mother 
country was not exhausted for their supply. Suppose a member 
in Congress should propose to send out an army of 60,000 troops, 
and maintain them on the coast of Africa; would not every sensi- 
ble man see at once that the thing would be impracticable, if even 
the existence of our country depended upon it f — it would ruin the 
greatest empire on the globe — and yet, strange to tell, the philan- 
thropists of Virginia are seriously urging her to attempt that which 
would every year impose upon her a burthen proportionally greater 
than all this ! 

If any man will for a moment revert to the history of Liberia, 
which has been as flourishing or even more flourishing than similar 
colonies, there will be seen at once enough to convince the most 
sceptical of the truth of this assertion. What says Mr. Ashmun, per- 
haps the most intelligent and most judicious of colonial agents? — 
"If rice grew spontaneously," said he, M and covered the country, 
yet it is possible by sending few or none able to reap and clean it, 
to starve 10,000 helpless children and infirm old people in the midst 
of plenty. Rice does not grow spontaneously however ; nor can 
any thing necessary for the subsistence of the human species, be 
procured here without the sweat of the brow. Clothing, tools, 
and building materials are much dearer here than in America. 
But send out your emigrants, laboring men and their families only, 
or laborious men and their families, accompanied only with their 
natural proportion of ineflicients ; and with the ordinary blessings 
of God, you may depend on their causing you a light expense in 
Liberia," Stc. Again, " If such persons (those who cannot work,) 
are to be supported by American funds, why not keep them in Ame- 
rica, where they can do something, by picking cotton and stemming 
tobacco, towards supporting themselves. I know that nothing is 
effectually done in colonizing this country, till the colony's own 
resources can sustain its own, and a considerable annual increase of 
population." Here then are statements from one most zealous and 
enthusiastic in the cause of colonization, one who has sacrificed 
his life in the business, which clearly show that the Colonization 
Society, with its very limited means, has over supplied the colony 
with emigrants. What then might not be expected from the tre- 
mendous action of the state and general governments on this sub- 
ject ? they would raise up a pauper establishment, which we con- 



76 

scientiously believe, would require the disposable wealth of the 
rest of the world to support, and the thousands of emigrants who 
would be sent, so far from being laborious men, would be the most 
idle and worthless of a race, who only desire liberty because they 
regard it as an exemption from labor and toil. Every man, too, 
at all conversant with the subject, knows that such alone are the 
slaves which a kind master will ever consent to sell, to be carried to a 
distant land. Sixty thousand emigrants per annum to the United 
States, would even now sink the wages of labor, and embarrass 
the whole of our industrious classes, although we have at this mo- 
ment lands, capable of supporting millions more when gradually 
added to our population. 

The Irish emigrants to Great Britain, have already begun to 
produce disastrous effects. " I am firmly persuaded," says Mr. 
M'Culloch, " that nothing so deeply injurious to the character and 
habits of our people, has ever occurred, as the late extraordinary 
influx of Irish laborers. — If another bias be not given to the cur- 
rent of emigration, Great Britain will necessarily continue to be 
the grand outlet for the pauper population of Ireland, nor will the 
tide of beggary and degradation cease to flow, until the plague of 
poverty has spread its ravages over both divisions of the empire."* 
Where, then, in the wide world, can we find a fulcrum upon which 
to place our mighty lever of colonization ? nowhere ! we repeat 
it, nowhere ! unless we condemn emigrants to absolute starvation. 
Sir Josiah Childe, who lived in an age of comparative ignorance, 
could well have instructed our modern philanthropists in the true 
principles of colonization. " Such as our employment is" says he, 
"so will our people be; and if we should imagine we have in 
England employment but for one hundred people, and we have 
born and bred (or he might have added brought) amongst us one 
hundred and fifty — fifty must away from us, or starve, or be hanged 
to prevent it."f And so say we in regard to our colonization — 
if our new colony cannot absorb readily more than one or two 
hundred per annum, and we send them 6000 or 60,000, the sur- 
plus " must either flee away or starve or be hanged," or be fed by 
the viother country, (which is impossible.) 

So far we have been attending principally to the difficulties of 
procuring subsistence; but the habits and moral character of our 
slaves present others of equal importance and magnitude. Doctor 
Franklin says that one of the reasons why we see so many fruitless 
attempts to settle colonies at an immense public and private ex- 
pense by several of the powers of Europe, is that the moral and 
mechanical habits adapted to the mother country, are frequently 
not so to the new settled one, and to external events, many of which 
are unforeseen, and that it is to be remarked that none of the 
English colonies became any way considerable, till the necessary 

* M'Culloch's Edition of the Wealth of Nations, 4th vol. pp. 154, 155. Edin- 
burgh Edition. 
I Sir Josiah Childe's Discourse on Trade. 



77 

manners were bom and grew up in the country. Now, with what 
peculiar and overwhelming force does this remark apply to our 
colonization of liberated blacks ? We are to send out thousands 
of these, taken from a state of slavery and ignorance, unaccus- 
tomed to guide and direct themselves, void of all the attributes of 
free agents, with dangerous notions of liberty and idleness, to ele- 
vate them at once to the condition of freemen, and invest them 
with the power of governing an empire, which will require more 
wisdom, more prudence, and at the same time more firmness than 
ever government required before. We are enabled to support our 
position by a quotation from an eloquent supporter of the Ameri- 
can colonization scheme. " Indeed," said the Rev. Mr. Bacon, 
at the last meeting of the American Colonization Society, " it is 
something auspicious, that in* the earlier stages of our undertaking, 
there has not been a general rush of emigration to the colony. In 
any single year since Cape Montserado was purchased, the influx 
of a thousand emigrants might have been fatal to our enterprize. — 
The new comers into any community must always be a minority, 
else every arrival is a revolution ; they must be a decided minority, 
easily absorbed into the system and mingled with mass, else the 
community is constantly liable to convulsion. Let 1 0,000 foreign- 
ers, rude and ignorant, be landed at once in this District (of Co- 
lumbia,) and what would be the result? Why you must have an 
armed force here to keep the peace ; — so one thousand now landing 
at once in our colony, might be its ruin. 3 '* 

The fact is, the true and enlightened friends of colonization, 
must reprobate all those chimerical schemes proposing to deport 
any thing like the increase of one state, and more particularly of 
the whole United States. The difficulty just explained, has alrea- 
dy been severely felt in Liberia, though hitherto supplied very 
scantily with emigrants, and those generally the most exemplary 
of the free blacks: thus in 1S28 it was the decided opinion of Mr. 
Ashmun, " that for at least two years to come, a much more dis- 
criminating selection of settlers must be made, than ever has been 
— even in the first and second expeditions by the Elizabeth and 
Nautilus in 1820 and '21, or that the prosperity of the colony will 
inevitably and rapidly decline." Now when to all these difficulties 
we add the prospect of frequent wars with the natives of Africa,! 
the great expense we must incur to support the colony, and the 
anomalous position of Virginia, an imperium in imperio, holding 
an empire abroad, we do not see how the whole scheme can be 
pronounced any thing less than a stupendous piece of folly" 

The progress of the British colony at Sierra Leone is well cal- 
culated to illustrate the great difficulties of colonizing negroes on 
the coast of Africa, and we shall at once present our readers with 
a brief history of this colony, given by one who seems to be a warm 

* See Fifteenth Annual Report of American Colonization Society, p. 10. 
|The Colony has already had one conflict with the natives, in which it had like to 
be overwhelmed. 

11 



78 

advocate of colonization, and consequently disposed to present the 
facts in the most favorable aspect. On the 8th of April 1787, 
400 negroes and 60 Europeans sailed from England, supplied with 
provisions for 6 or 8 months, for Sierra Leone. Now mark the 
consequences: — "The result was unfortunate and even discourag- 
ing. The crowded condition of the transports, the unfavorable 
season at which they arrived on the coast, and the intemperance 
and imprudence of the emigrants, brought on a mortality which 
reduced their numbers nearly one-half during the^r^year. Others 
deserted soon after landing, until forty individuals only remained. 
In 1788, Mr. Sharp sent out thirty nine more, and then a number 
of the deserters returned, and the settlement gradually gained 
strength. But during the next year^ a controversy with a neigh- 
boring native chief, ended in wholly dispersing the colony; and 
sometime elapsed before the remnants could be again collected. 
A charter of incorporation was obtained in 1791. Not long af- 
terwards, about 1200 new emigrants were introduced, being origi- 
ginally refugees from this country (United States,) who had placed 
themselves under British protection. Still, affairs were very badly 
managed. One-tenth of the Nova Scotians, and half of the Euro- 
peans, died during one season, as much from want of provisions as 
any other cause. Two years afterwards, a store-ship belonging to 
the company, which had been made the receptacle of African pro- 
duce, was lost by fire, with a cargo valued at £ 15,000. Then 
INSURRECTIONS arose among the blacks ! Worst of all, in 
1794, a large French squadron, wholly without provocation, at- 
tacked the settlement, and although the colors were immediately 

struck, proceeded to an indiscriminate pillage.* (Some 

years) afterwards a large number of the worst part of the settlers, 
chiefly the Nova Scotians, rebelled against the Colonial Govern- 
ment. The governor called in the assistance of the neighboring 
African tribes, and matters were on the eve of a battle, when a 
transport arrived in the harbor, bringing 550 Maroons from Ja- 
maica. Lots of land were given to these men; they proved regu- 
lar and industrious, and the insurgents laid down their arms. 
Wars next ensued with the natives, which were not finally concluded 
until 1807. On the first January 1808, all the rights and pos- 
sessions of the company were surrendered to the British Crown; 
and in this situation they have ever since remained." (See 16th 
JVo. of the North American Review, pp. 120 and 121.) The pro- 
gress of the colony since 1808, has been as little flattering as be- 
fore that period ; and even Mr. Everett, before the Colonization So- 
ciety in Washington, has been forced to acknowledge its failure. 
(See Mr. Everett 9 s Speech 1 5th Annual Report.) 
Thus does this negro colony at Sierra Leone, illustrate most 



* We would beg leave most respectfully to ask our Virginia Abolitionists, how an 
insult of this character offered to any colony which we might establish in Africa, would 
be resented ? Would the Nation of Virginia, declare war on the aggressor ? and if she 
did, where would be her navy, her sailors, her soldiers, and the constitutionality of the act ? 



79 

fully the fearful and tremendous difficulties, which must ever at- 
tend every infant colony formed on the coast of Africa. During 
the brief period of its existence, it lias been visited by all the 
plagues that colonial establishments "are heir to." It has been 
cursed with the intemperance, imprudence, and desertion of the 
colonists, with want of homogeneous character and consequent 
dissentions, civil wars and insurrections. It has experienced fa- 
mines, and suffered insult and pillage. Its numbers have been 
thinned by the blighting climate of Africa. Its government has 
been wretched, and it has been almost continually engaged in war 
with the neighboring Afric tribes.* 

Some have supposed that the circumstance of the Africans being 
removed a stage or two above the savages of North America, will 
render the colonization of Africa much easier than that of Ameri- 
ca: — we draw directly the opposite conclusion. The Indians of 
North America had nowhere taken possession of the soil ; they 
were wanderers over the face of the country ; their titles could be 
extinguished for slight considerations; and it is ever melancholy 
to reflect that their habits of improvidence and of intoxication, 
and even their cruel practices in war, have all been (such has been 
for them the woeful march of events,) favorable to the rapid in- 
crease of the whites, who have thus been enabled to exterminate 
the red men^ and take their places. 

The natives of Africa exist in the rude agricultural state, much 
more numerously than the natives of America. Their titles to 
land will be extinguished with much more difficulty and expense. 
The very first contact with our colony will carry to them the whole 
art and implements of war.f As our colonists spread and press 
upon them, border wars will arise ; and in vain will the attempt 
be made to extirpate the African nations, as we have the Indian 
tribes: every inhabitant of Liberia who is taken prisoner by his 
enemy, will be consigned, according to the universal practice of 
Africa, to the most wretched slavery either in Africa or the West 
Indies. And what will our colony do ? Must they murder, while 
their enemies enslave? Oh, no, it is too cruel, and will produce 
barbarizing and exterminating wars. Will they spare the prisoners 
of war? No! There does not and never will exist a people on 

♦ Perhaps it may be said, that all these things may be avoided in our colonies, by 
wise management and proper caution* To this we answer, that in speculating upon 
the destiny of multitudes or nations, we must embrace within our calculation all the 
elements as they actually exist — civil, political, moral, and physical — and our deductions 
to be true, must be taken, not from the beau ideal which a vivid imagination may sketch 
out, but from the average of concomitant circumstances. It would be a?poor apology 
which a statesman could offer, for the failure of a certain campaign which he had plan- 
ned, to say that he had calculated that every officer in the army was a Napoleon or a 
Cesar, and that every regiment was equal to Cesar's 10th Legion or the Imperial guard 
of Napoleon. The physicians say there is not much danger to be apprehended from 
Cholera, when due caution and prudence are exercised. Yet, we apprehend it would 
be a very unfair conclusion if we were to assert, that when the Cholera breaks out in 
Charleston there will not be one single death, — and yet we have just as much right to 
make this assertion, as to say that our colony in Africa will be free from all the acci- 
dents, plagues and calamities to which all such establishments have ever been subjected. 

t Powder and fire-arms formed material items in the purchase of Liberia. 



•'• 



80 

earth, who would tamely look on and see their wives, mothers, broth- 
ers, and sisters, ignominiously enslaved, and not resent the insult. 
What, then, will be done ? Why, they will be certain to enslave too ; 
and if domestic slavery should be interdicted in the colony, it 
would be certain to encourage the slave trade;* and if we could 
ever look forward to the time when the slave trade should be de- 
stroyed, then the throwing back of this immense current upon 
Africa would inundate all the countries of that region. It would 
be like the checking of the emigration from the northern hives 
upon the Roman world. The northern nations, in consequence 
of this check, soon experienced all the evils of a redundant popu- 
lation, and broke forth with their redundant numbers in another 
quarter; both England and France were overrun, and the repose 
of all Europe was again disturbed. So, would a sudden check to 
the African slave trade, cause the redundant population of Africa 
to break in, like the Normans and the Danes, on the abodes of ci- 
vilization situated in their neighborhood. Let, then, the real phi- 
lanthropist ponder over these things, and tremble for the fate of 
colonies which may be imprudently planted on the African soil. 
The history of the World has too conclusively shown, that two 
races, differing in manners, customs, language, and civilization, 
can never harmonize upon a footing of equality. One must rule 
the other, or exterminating wars must be waged. In the case of 
the savages of North America, we have been successful in exter- 
minating them ; but in the case of African nations, we do think, 
from a view of the whole subject, that our colonists will most pro- 
bably be the victims; but the alternative is almost equally shock- 
ing, should this not be the case. They must, then, be the exter- 
minators or enslavers of all the nations of Africa with which they 
come into contact. The whole history of colonization, indeed, 
presents one of the most gloomy and horrific pictures to the ima- 
gination of the genuine philanthropist which can possibly be con- 
ceived. The many Indians who have been murdered, or driven in 
despair from the haunts and hunting grounds of their fathers — the 
heathen driven from his heritage, or hurried into the presence of 
his God in the full blossom of all his heathenish sins — the cruel 
slaughter of Ashantees — the murder of Burmese — all, all but too 
eloquently tell the misery and despair portended by the advance 
of civilization to the savage and the pagan, whether in America, 
Africa, or Asia. In the very few cases where the work of desola- 
tion ceased, and a commingling of races ensued, it has been found 
that the civilized man has sunk down to the level of barbarism, and 
there has ended the mighty work of civilization ! Such are the 
melancholy pictures which sober reason is constrained to draw of 
the future destinies of our colony in Africa. And what, then, 
will become of that grand and glorious idea of carrying religion, 

* We fear our colony at Liberia is not entirely free from this stain even now ; it is 
well known that the British colony at Sierra Leone has frequently aided the slave 
trade. 



81 

intelligence, industry, and the arts, to the already wronged and In- 
jured Africa? It is destined to vanish, and prove worse than 
mere delusion. The rainbow of promise will be swept away, and 
we shall awake at last to all the sad realities of savage warfare 
and increasing barbarism. We have thus slated some of the 
principal difficulties and dangers accompanying a scheme of colo- 
nization, upon a scale as large as proposed in the Virginia Legisla- 
ture. We have said enough to show, that if we ever send off 
6000 per annum, we must incur an expense far beyond the pur- 
chase money. • 

The expense of deportation to Africa we have estimated at 
thirty dollars ; but when there is taken into the calculation the 
further expense of collecting in Virginia,* of feeding, protecting, 
&c, in Africa, the amount swells beyond all calculation. Mr. 
Tazewell, in his able Report on the colonization of free people of 
colour on the African coast, represents this expense as certainly 
amounting to one hundred dollars ; and judging from actual ex- 
perience, was disposed to think two hundred dollars would fall be- 
low the fair estimate. If the Virginia scheme shall ever be adopted, 
we have no doubt that both these estimates will fall below the real 
expense. The annual cost of removing 6000, instead of being 
$ 1,380,000, will swell beyond $2,400,000, an expense sufficient 
to destroy the entire value of the whole property of Virginia. 
Voltaire, in his Philosophical Dictionary, has said, that such is the 
inherent and preservative vigour of nations, that governments 
cannot possibly ruin them; that almost ail governments which had 

* Even supposing the number of blacks, to be annually deported, should ever be fixed 
by the State, the difficulty of settling upon a proper plan of purchase and collection, 
will be infinitely greater than any man would be willing to admit, who has not seriously 
reflected on the subject, and the apple of discord will be thrown into the Virginia Legis- 
lature the moment it shall ever come to discuss the details. SupjDose, for example, 6000 
are to be sent off annually, will you send negro buyers through the country to buy up 
slaves wherever they can be -bought, until 6000 ape purchased? If you do, you will 
inevitably gather together the very dregs of creation, the most vicious, the most worth- 
less and the most idle, for these alone will be sold ! a frightful population, whose multitudes 
when gathered together and poured upon the infant settlements in Africa, will be far 
more destructive than the Lava flood from the Volcano. Again, some portions of the 
state might sell cheaper than others, and an undue proportion of slaves would be pur- 
chased from these quarters, and cause the system to operate unequally. Will you di- 
vide the state into sections, and purchase from each according to black population ? 
Then, what miserable sectional controversy, should we have in the state? What 
dreadful grumbling in the west ! Moreover, the same relative numbers abstracted from 
a very dense and a very sparse black population, will produce a very different effect on 
the labor market. Thus, we will suppose along trie margin of the James River, from 
Richmond to Norfolk, the blacks are 20 for 1 white, and that in some county beyond 
the Blue Ridge, this proportion is reversed. Suppose farther, that a 20th of the blacks 
are to be bought up and sent off, this demand will have but a slight effect on the labor 
market in the county beyond the Ridge, because it calls for only one in 400 of the popu- 
lation ; whereas the effect would be great along the James River, .as it would take away 
one in 21 of the population. The slaves, in every section, would command a different 
price ; and we should be obliged to establish our Octroi and Douanier, and tax or prevent 
the migration of negroes from one section to another. But we will not pursue further 
the examination of mere details, which do not fall within our original design. It will 
be discovered from even a slight analysis, that every single branch of this gigantic 
scheme of folly, like the teeth of the fabled Dragon, will bring you forth an armed man 
to arrest your progress. 



82 

been established in the world had made the attempt, but had failed. 
If the sage of France had lived in our days, he would have had a 
receipt furnished by some of our philanthropists, by which this 
work might have been accomplished ! We read in holy writ of 
one great emigration from the land of Egypt, and the concomi- 
tant circumstances should bid us well beware of an imitation, un- 
less assisted by the constant presence of Jehovah. Ten plagues 
were sent upon the land of Egypt before Pharaoh would consent 
to part with the Israelites, the productive laborers of his kingdom. 
But a short time convinced him of the heavy loss which lie sus- 
tained by their removal, and he gave pursuit ; but God was pre- 
sent with the Israelites — He parted the waters of the Red Sea for 
their passage, and closed them over the Egyptians — He led on his 
chosen people through the wilderness, testifying his presence in 
a pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by day — He sup- 
plied them with manna in their long journej', sending a sufficien- 
cy on the sixth for that and the seventh day. When they were 
thirsty the rocks poured forth waters, and when they finally ar- 
rived in the land of promise, after the loss of a generation, the 
mysterious will of heaven had doomed the tribes of Canaan to 
destruction; fear and apprehension confounded all their counsels ; 
their battlements sunk down at the trumpet's sound ; the native 
hosts, under heaven's command, were all slaughtered ; and the 
children of Israel took possession of the habitations and property 
of the slaughtered inhabitants. The whole history of this emi- 
gration beautifully illustrates the great difficulties and hardships of 
removal to foreign lands of multitudes of people. And as a citi- 
zen of Virginia, we can never consent to so grand a scheme of 
colonization on the coast of Africa, until it is sanctioned by a de- 
cree of heaven, made known by signs, far more intelligible than 
an eclipse and greenness of the sun — till manna shall be rained 
down for the subsistence of our black emigrants — till seas shall be 
parted, and waters flow from rocks for their accommodation — till 
we shall have a leader like Moses, who, in the full confidence of 
all his piety and all his religion, can, in the midst of all the ap- 
palling difficulties and calamities by which he may be surrounded, 
speak forth to his murmuring people, in the language of comfort, 
"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which 
he will shew to you to-day." 

But, say some, if Virginia cannot accomplish this work, let us 
call upon the general government for aid — let Hercules be request- 
ed to put his shoulders to the wheels, and roll us through the for- 
midable quagmire of our difficulties. Delusive prospect! Cor- 
rupting scheme! We will throw all constitutional difficulties out of 
view, and ask if the federal government can be requested to un- 
dertake the expense for Virginia, without encountering it for the 
whole slave holding population? And then, whence can be drawn 
the funds to purchase more than 2,000,000 of slaves, worth at the 
lowest calculation $ 400,000,000 ; or if the increase alone be sent 



S3 

off, can Congress undertake annually to purchase at least 60,000 
slaves at an expense of $ 12,000,000, and deport and colonize 
them at an expense of twelve or fifteen millions more?* But the 
fabled hydra would be more than realized in this project. We 
have no doubt that if the United States in good faith should en- 
ter into the slave markets of the country, determined to purchase 
up the whole annual increase of our slaves, so unwise a project, by 
its artificial demand, would immediately produce a rise in this pro- 
perty, throughout the whole southern country, of at least 33 1-3 
per cent. It would stimulate and invigorate the spring of black 
population, which, by its tremendous action, would set at naught 
the puny efforts of man, and like the Grecian matron, unweave in 
the night what had been woven in the day. We might well calcu- 
late upon an annual increase of at least four and an half per cent, 
upon our two millions of slaves, if ever the United States should 
create the artifical demand which we have just spoken of; and 
then, instead of an increase of 60,000, there will be 90,000, bear- 
ing the average price of $300 each, making the enormous annual 
expense of purchase alone $27,000,000 ! — and difficulties, too, on 
the side of the colony, would more than enlarge with the increase 
of the evil at home. Our Colonization Society has been more 
than fifteen years at work ; it has purchased, according to its friends, 
a district of country as congenial to the constitution of the black 
as any in Africa; it has, as we have seen, frequently over-supplied 
the colony with emigrants; and mark the result, for it is worthy of 
all observation, there are now not more than 2000 or 2500 inha- 
bitants in Liberia ! And these are alarmed lest the Southhampton in- 
surrection may cause such an emigration as to inundate the colony. 
When, then, in the lapse of time, can we ever expect to build up a 
colony which can receive sixty or ninety thousand slaves per an- 
num? And if this should ever arrive, what guarantee could be 
furnished us that their ports would always be open to our emi- 
grants? Would law or compact answer ? Oh, no! Some legislator, 
in the plenitude of his wisdom, might arise, who could easily and 
truly persuade his countrymen that these annual importations of 
blacks were nuisances, and that the laws of God, whatever might 
be those of men, would justify their abatement. And the drama 
would be wound up in this land of promise and expectation, by 
turning the cannon's mouth against the liberated emigrant and de- 
luded philanthropist. The scheme of colonizing our blacks on 
the coast of Africa, or any where else, by the United States, is thus 
seen to be more stupendously absurd than even the Virginia pro- 
ject. King Canute, the Dane, seated on the sea shore, and order- 
ing the rising flood to recede from his royal feet, was not guilty of 
more vanity and presumption than the government of the United 
States would manifest, in the vain effort of removing and coloniz- 

* Wo must recollect, that the expense of colonizing "increases much more rapidly 
than in proportion to the simple increase of the number of emigrants. 



84 

ing the annual increase of our blacks. So far from being able to 
remove the whole annual increase every year, we shall not be ena- 
bled to send off a number sufficiently great, to check even the geo- 
metrical rate of increase, Our black population, is now produ- 
cing 60,000 per annum, and next year, we must add to this sum 
1800, which the increment alone, is capable of producing, and the 
year after, the increment upon the increment, &c. Now, let us 
throw out of view for a moment, the idea of grappling with the 
whole annual increase, and see whether by colonization, we can 
expect to turn this geometrical increase into an arithmetical one. 
We will then take the annual increase, 60,000, as our capital, and 
it will be necessary to send off the increase upon this, 1800, to 
prevent the geometrical increase of the whole black population. 
Let us, then, for a moment, inquire whether the abolitionists can 
expect to realize this petty advantage. 

Mr. Bacon admits, that 1000 emigrants now thrown on Liberia, 
would ruin it. We believe that every reflecting sober member of 
the Colonization Society, will acknowledge, that 500 annually, are 
fully as many as the colony can now receive. We will assume this 
number, though no doubt greatly beyond the truth ; and we will 
admit further, (what we could easily demonstrate to be much too 
liberal a concession,) that the capacity of the colony for the re- 
ception of emigrants, may be made to enlarge in a geometrical ratio, 
equal to that of the rate of increase of the blacks in the United 
States. Now with these \ery liberal concessions on our part, let us 
examine into the effect of the colonization scheme. At the end of 
the first year, we shall have for the amount of the 60,000, increas- 
ing at the rate of 3^ percent. 61,800; and substracting 500, we 
shall begin the second year, with the number of 61,300, which in- 
creasing at the rate of 3i per cent, gives 63,139 for the amount 
at the end of the second year. Proceeding thus, we obtain at the 
end of 25 years, for the amount of the 60,000, 101,208. The 
number taken away, that is the sum of 500 + 500 X 1,003 + 500 X 
1,003 2 &c. will be 18,197. It is thus seen, that in spite of the 
efforts of the colonization scheme, the bare annual increase of our 
slaves, will produce 41,208 more than can be sent off; which num- 
ber of course must be added to the capital of 60,000; — and long, 
very long, before the colony in Africa upon our system of calcula- 
tion even could receive the increase upon this accumulating capi- 
tal, its capacity as a recipient would be checked by the limitation 
of territory and the rapid filling up of the population, both by immi- 
gration and natural increase. And thus by a simple arithmetical 
calculation, we may be convinced that the effort to check even the 
geometrical rate of increase, by sending offthe increment upon the 
annual increase of our slaves, is greatly more than we can accom- 
plish, and must inevitably terminate in disappointment, — more than 
realizing the fable of the Frog and the Ox, — for in this case we 
should have the frog spelling, not for the purpose of rivalling the 
ox in sizes & ut to swallow him down horns and all! I 



85 

Seeing then, that the effort to send away the increase, on even 
the present increase of our slaves, must be vain and fruitless — how 
stupendously absurd must be the project, proposing to send off the 
whole increase, so as to keep down the negro population at its pre- 
sent amount! There are some things which man arrayed in all his 
" brief authority"— cannot accomplish, and this is one of them. 
Colonization schemers, big and busy in the management of all their 
little machinery, and gravely proposing it as an engine by which 
our black population may be sent to the now uncongenial home of 
their ancestors, across an ocean of thousands of miles in width, but 
too strongly remind us of the vain man, who in all the pomp 
and circumstance of power, ordered his servile attendants to stop 
the rise of ocean's tide, by carrying off its accumulating waters. 
Emigration has rarely checked the increase of population, by di- 
rectly lessening its number — it can only do it by the abstraction of 
capital and by paralyzing the spring of population, — and then it 
blights and withers the prosperity of the land. The population of 
.Europe has not been thinned by emigration to the new world — the 
province of Andalusia in Spain, which sent out the greatest num- 
ber of emigrants to the Islands and to Mexico and Peru, has been 
precisely the district in Spain which has increased its population 
most rapidly. Ireland now sends forth a greater number of emi- 
grants, than any other country in the world ; and yet the population 
of Ireland, is now increasing faster than any other population of 
Europe! 

We hope, we have now said enough of these colonization schemes, 
to show that we can never expect to send off our black population, 
by their means, — and we cannot conclude without addressing a 
word of caution to the generous sons of the Old Dominion. It 
behooves them well to beware with what intent they look' to the Fe- 
deral Government, for aid in the accomplishment of these delusive — 
these impracticable projects. The guileful tempter of our original 
parents, seduced them with the offer of an apple, which proved 
their heaviest curse, drove them from the garden of Eden, and des- 
troyed forever, their state of innocence and purity. Let Virginia 
beware then, that she be not tempted by the apple, to descend from 
that lofty eminence which she has hitherto occupiedJn our confe- 
deracy, and sacrifice upon the altar of misconceived interests — those 
pure political principles by which she has hitherto been so proudly 
characterised. This whole question of emancipation and deporta~ 
tion, is but too well calculated to furnish the political lever, by 
which Virginia is to be prised out of her natural and honorable 
position in the union, and made to sacrifice her noble' political 
creed. We have witnessed with feelings of no common kind, the 
almost suppliant look cast towards the general government, by 
some of the orators in the Virginia debate. It has pained us to 
read speeches and pamphlets and newspaper essays, suggesting 
changes in the constitution, or at once boldly imploring without 
such changes, the action of the Federal Government. Unless the 
12 



86 

sturdy patriots of Virginia stand forth, we fear indeed, that her 
noble principles will be swept away by the tide of corruption. 
The agitation of the slave question in the last Virginia Legisla- 
ture, has already begun the work, and the consent of Virginia to 
receive federal aid in the scheme of emancipation and deportation, 
would complete it. As long as a state relies upon its own resources, 
and looks to no foreign quarter for aid or support, so long does she 
place herself without the sphere of temptation, and preserve her 
political virtue: This is one principal reason why Virginia has 
produced so many disinterested patriots — we will go further still, 
the generous, disinterested and noble character of southern politics 
generally, is in a great measure attributable to this very cause — ■ 
the South has hitherto had nothing to ask of the Federal Government 
— she has been no dependent, no expectant at the door of the Fede- 
ral Treasury — she has never therefore, betrayed the interest of the 
Union, for some paltry benefit to herself. But let her once con- 
sent to supplicate the aid of the general government on this slave 
question — and that moment will she sacrifice her high political 
principles, and become a dependent on that government. ^Vhen 
Virginia shall consent to receive this boon, her hands will be tied 
forever, the emancipating interest will be added to the internal im- 
provement and Tariff interests, and Virginia can no more array 
herself against the torrent of federal oppression; hitched to the 
car of the Federal Government, she will be ignominiously dragged 
forward, a conscience-stricken partner in the unholy alliance for 
oppression; and in that day, the genuine patriot, may well cast a 
longing, lingering look back to the days of purer principles, and 
"sigh for the loss of Eden." And in this melancholy saddening 
retrospect, he will not have the poor consolation left, of seeing his 
once noble state, reap the paltry reward, which had so fatally 
tempted her to an abandonment of all her principles. Can any 
reflecting man, for a moment believe, that the North and West, form- 
ing the majority in our confederacy, would ever seriously consent 
to that enormous expenditure which would be necessary to carry 
into effect, this gigan.tic colonization scheme — a scheme whose di- 
rect operation would be, to take away that very labor, which now 
bears the burthen on federal exactions — a scheme whose operation 
would be to dry up the sources of that very revenue, upon which its 
success entirely depends! ! Vain and delusive hope ! Not one ne- 
gro slave will ever be sent away from this country by federal funds — 
and heaven forbid there ever should, — and yet we fear the longing, 
lingering hope, will corrupt the pure principles of many a deluded 
patriot. 

We have thus examined fully this scheme of emancipation and 
deportatton, and trust we have satisfactorily shown, that the whole 
plan is utterly impracticable, requiring an expense and sacrifice of 
property far beyond the entire resources of the state and federal 
governments. We shall now proceed to inquire, whether we can 
emancipate our slaves with permission that they remain among us. 



87 
Emancipation without Deportation. 

We candidly confess,, that we look upon this last mentioned 
scheme as much more practicable and likely to be forced upon us, 
than the former. We consider it at the same time so fraught with 
danger and mischief both to the whites and blacks — so utterly sub- 
versive of the welfare of the slave holding country, in both an econo- 
mical and moral point of view, that we cannot, upon any principle of 
right or expediency, give it our sanction. Almost all the speakers 
in the Virginia Legislature seemed to think there ought to be no 
emancipation without deportation. Mr. Clay, too, in his celebra- 
ted Colonization speech of 1830, says, " If the question were sub- 
mitted whether there should be immediate or gradual emancipation of 
all the slaves in the United States, without. their removal or coloniza- 
tion, painful as it is to express the opinion, I have no doubt that it 
would be unwise to emancipate them. I believe, that the aggregate 
of evils which would be engendered in society, upon the supposi- 
tion of general emancipation, and of the liberated slaves remaining 
principally among us, would be greater than all the evils oT sla- 
very, great as they unquestionably are." Even the northern phi- 
lanthropists themselves admit, generally, that there should be no 
emancipation without removal. Perhaps, then, under these cir- 
cumstances, we might have been justified in closing our review 
with a consideration of the colonization scheme ; but as we are 
anxious to survey this subject fully in all its aspects, and to de- 
monstrate upon every ground the complete justification of the 
whole southern country in a further continuance of that system of 
slavery which has been originated by no fault of theirs, and con- 
tinued and increased contrary to their most earnest desires and pe- 
titions, we have determined briefly to examine this scheme like- 
wise. As we believe the scheme of deportation utterly impractica- 
ble, we have come to the conclusion that in the present great ques- 
tion, the .real and decisive line of conduct is either abolition 
without removal, or a steady perseverance in the system now estab- 
lished. " Paltry and timid minds," says the present Lord Chan- 
cellor of England on this very subject, " shudder at the thought 
of were inactivity, as cowardly troops tremble at the idea of calmly 
waiting for the enemy's approach. Both the one and the other 
hasten their fate by relentless and foolish movements." 

The great ground upon which we shall rest our argument on 
this subject is, that the slaves, in both an economical and moral point 
of view, are entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites; 
and we shallproduce such proofs and illustrations of our position, 
as seem to us perfectly conclusive. That condition of our species 
from which the most important consequences flow, says Mr. Mill 
the Utilitarian, is the necessity of labor for the supply of the fund 
of our necessaries and conveniences. It is this which influences, 
perhaps more than any other, even our moral and religious cha- 
racter, and determines more than every thing else besides, the social 



88 

and political state of man. It must enter into the calculations of 
not only the political economist, but even of the metaphysician, 
the moralist, the theologian, and politician. 

We shall therefore proceed at once to inquire what effect would 
be produced upon the slaves of the South in an economical point 
of view, by emancipation with permission to remain — whether the 
voluntary labor of the freedman would be as great as the involun- 
tary labor of the slave? Fortunately for us this question has been 
so frequently and fairly subjected to the test of experience, that 
we are no longer left to vain and fruitless conjecture. Much was 
said in the legislature of Virginia about superiority of free labor 
over slave, and perhaps under certain circumstances this might be 
true; but in the present instance, the question is between the rela- 
tive amounts of labor which may be obtained from slaves before and 
after their emancipation. Let us then first commence with our 
country, where it is well known to every body, that slave labor is 
vastly more efficient and productive, than the labor of free blacks. 

Taken as a whole class, the latter must be considered the most 
worthless and indolent of the citizens of the United States. It is 
well known that throughout the whole extent of our Union, they 
are looked upon as the very drones and pests of society. Nor 
does this character arise from the disabilities and disfranchisement 
by which the law attempts to guard against them. In the non- 
slave-holding states, where they have been more elevated by law, 
this kind of population is in a worse condition and much more 
troublesome to society, than in the slave holding, and especially 
in the planting states. Ohio, some years ago, formed a sort of 
land of promise for this deluded class, to which many repaired 
from the slave holding states; and what has been the consequence? 
They have been most harshly expelled from that state and forced 
to take refuge in a foreign land. Look through all the Northern 
States, and mark the class upon whom the eye of the police is 
most steadily and constantly kept — see with what vigilance and care 
they are hunted down from place to place — and you cannot fail to 
see, that idleness and improvidence are at the root of all their 
misfortunes. Not only does the experience of our own country 
illustrate this great fact, but others furnish abundant testimony. 

"The free negroes," says Brougham, " in the West Indies, are, 
with a very few exceptions, chiefly in the Spanish and Portuguese 
settlements, equally averse to all sorts of labor which do not contri- 
bute to the supply of their immediate and most urgent wants. Im- 
provident and careless of the future, they are not actuated by 
that principle which inclines more civilized men to equalize their 
exertions at all times, and to work after the necessaries of the day 
have been procured, in order to make up for the possible defici- 
ences of the morrow ; nor has their intercourse with the whites 
taught them to consider any gratification as worth obtaining, 
which cannot be procured by slight exertion of desultory and ca- 



89 

pricious industry."* In the Report of the Committee of the Privy 
Council in Great Britain, in 1788, the most ample proof of this 
assertion is brought forward. In Jamaica and Barbadoes, it was 
stated, that free negroes were never known to work for hire, 
and they have all the vices of the slaves. Mr. Braithwait the 
agent for Barbadoes, affirmed, that if the slaves in that Island 
were offered their freedom on condition of working for themselves, 
not one-tenth of them would accept it. In all the other colonies 
the statements agree most accurately with those collected by the 
Committee of the Privy Council. "M. Malouet, who bore a spe- 
cial commission from the present government to examine the cha- 
racter and habits of the Maroons in Dutch Guiana, and to deter- 
mine whether or not they were adapted to become hired laborers, 
informs us that they will only work one day in the week, which 
they find abundantly sufficient in the fertile soil and genial climate 
of the New World, to supply all the wants that they have yet 
learnt to feel. The rest of their time is spent in absolute indolence 
and sloth. ' Le reposj says he, ' etVoisivete sont devenus dans leur 
etat social leur unique passion.' He gives the very same descrip- 
tion of the free negroes in the French colonies, although many 
of them possess lands and slaves. The spectacle, he tells us, was 
never yet exhibited of a free negro supporting his family by the 
culture of his little property. All other authors agree in giving 
the same description of free negroes in the British, French, and 
Dutch colonies, by whatever denomination they may be distin- 
guished, whether Maroons, Caraibes, free blacks, or fugitive 
slaves. The Abbe Raynal, with all his ridiculous fondness for sa- 
vages, cannot, in the present instance, so far twist the facts ac- 
cording to his fancies and feelings, as to give a favorable portrait 
of this degraded race."f 

From these facts, it would require no great sagacity to come to 
the conclusion, that slave cannot be converted into free labor with- 
out imminent danger to the prosperity and wealth of the country 
^vhere the change takes place — and in this particular it matters 
not what may be the color of the slave. In the commencement 
of the reign of Charles V., the representations of Las Casas de- 
termined Cardinal Ximenes, the prime minister of Charles, to 
make an experiment of the conversion of slave labor into free; 
and for this purpose pious commissioners were sent out, attended 
by Las Casas himself, for the purpose of liberating the Indian 
slaves in the New World. Now mark the result — these commis- 
sioners, chosen from the cloister, and big with real philanthropy, 
repaired to the Western World intent upon the great work of eman- 
cipation. " Their ears," says Robertson, " were open to infor- 
mation from every quarter — they compared the different accounts 
which they received — and after a mature consideration of the 



* Brougham's Colonial Policy, Book IV. sec. 1. 

* Brougham's Colonial Policy. 



90 

whole, they were fully satisfied that the state of the colony render- 
ed it impossible to adopt the plan proposed by Las Casas, and re- 
commended by the Cardinal. They plainly perceived, that no allure- 
ment was so powerful as to surmount the natural aversion of the 
Indians to any laborious effort, and that nothing but the authority 
of a master could compel them to work; and if they were not 
kept constantly under the eye and discipline of a superior, so 
great were their natural listlessness and indifference, that they 
would neither attend to religious instruction, nor observe those 
rights of Christianity which they had been already taught. Upon 
all these accounts the superintendents found it necessary to tolerate 
repartimientos, and to sutler the Indians to remain under subjection 
to their Spanish masters."* In the latter part of his reign, Charles, 
with most imprudent and fatal decision, proclaimed the immediate 
and universal emancipation of all the Indians — and precisely what 
any man of reflection might have anticipated resulted. Their in- 
dustry and freedom were found entirely incompatible. The alarm 
was instantly spread over the whole Spanish colonies. Peru, for 
a time lost to the monarchy, was only restored by the repeal of 
the obnoxious law ; and in New Spain quiet was only preserved by 
a combination of the governor and subjects to suspend its execu- 
tion. During the mad career of the French revolution, the slaves 
in the French colonies were for a time liberated, and even in Cay- 
enne, where the experiment succeeded best in consequence of the 
paucity of slaves, it completely demonstrated the superiority of 
slave over free black labor; and generally the re-establishment 
of slavery was attended with the most happy consequences, and 
even courted by the negroes themselves, who became heartily tired 
of their short lived liberty. Of the great experiment which has 
been recently made in Colombia and Guatemala, we shall present- 
ly speak. We believe it has completely proved the same well es- 
tablished fact — the great superiority of slave over free negro labor. 
Mr. Clarkson, in his pamphlet on Slavery, has alluded in terms 
of high commendation to an experiment made in Barbadoes, on 
Mr. Steele's plantation, which he contends has proved the safety 
and facility of the transition from slave to free labor. It seems 
Mr. Steele parcelled out his land among his negroes, and paid 
them wages for their labor. Now, we invite particularly the at- 
tention of our readers to the following extracts from the letter of 
Mr. Sealy, a neighbor of Mr. Steele, which will not only serve to 
establish our position, but afford an illustration of the melancholy 
fact, that the best of men cannot be relied on when under the influ- 
ence of prejudice and passion. " It so happened," says Mr. Sealy, 
" that 1 resided on the nearest adjoining estate to Mr. Steele, and 
superintended the management of it myself for many years; I had 
therefore a better opportunity of forming an opinion than Mr. 
Clarkson can have — he has read Mr. Steele's account — I witnes- 

* Robertson's America, vol. 1, p. 123. 



9i 

sed the operations and effects of his plans. He possessed one of 4 the 
largest and most seasonable plantations, in a delightful part of the 
island ; with all these advantages his estate was never in as good 
order as those in the same neighborhood, and the crops were nei- 
ther adequate to the size and resources of the estate, nor in pro- 
portion to those of other estates in the same part of the island. 
Finally, after an experiment of thirty years under Mr. Steele, and 
his executor, Mr. T. Bell, Mr. Steele's debts remained unpaid, and 
the plantation was sold by a decree of the Court of Chancery. 
After the debts and costs of suit were paid, very little remained 
out of £45,000 to go to the residuary legatees. 

" It was very well known that the negroes rejoiced when the 
change took place, and thanked their God that they were relieved 
from the copyhold system. Such was the final result and success 
that attended this system, which has been so much eulogized by 
Mr. Clarkson. After the estate was sold and the system changed,, 
I had equally an opportunity of observing the management, and 
certainly the manifest improvement was strong evidence in favor 
of the change. Fields which had been covered with bushes for a 
series of years, were brought into cultivation, and the number of 
pounds of sugar was in some years more than doubled under the new 
management; the provision crops also were abundant; consequent- 
ly the negroes and stock were" amply provided for." Again; the 
Attorney General of Barbadoes corroborates the statements of 
Mr. Sealy in the most positive terms: he says, "I was surprised 
to see it asserted lately in print, that his, Mr. Steele's plantation, 
succeeded well under that management. I know it to be false. It 
failed considerably ; and had he lived a few years longer, he would 
have died not worth a farthing. Upon his death they reverted to 
the old system, to which the slaves readily and willingly returned; 
the plantation now succeeds, and the slaves are contented and 
happy, and think themselves much better off than under the co- 
pyhold system, for their wages would not afford them many com- 
forts which they have now."* (Upon this subject see No. LX. 
London Quarterly. Art. West India Colonies.) But a short time 
since, a highly respectable, and one of the most intelligent farmers 
of Virginia, informed us that he had actually tried, upon a much 
smaller scale, a similar experiment, and that it entirely failed ; the 



* If it were not that the experiment would be too dangerous and costly, we would 
have no objection to see our slaves gratified with the enjoyment of freedom for a short 
time. There is no doubt but that they, like the Poles, Livonians, &c, and the negroes 
of Mr. Steele, would soon sigh again for a master's control, and a master's support and 
protection. It is a well known fact, that upon the borders of the free states, our slaves are 
not as much disposed to elope, as those who are situated farther off, and the reason is, 
they are near enough to witness the condition of the free black laborer, and they know 
it is far more wx-etched than their own. A citizen of the west, who is as well acquaint- 
ed with this whole subject as any other in the state, or in the United States, informed 
us a short time since that the slaves of Botetourt and Montgomery, were much more 
disposed to elope and settle in Ohio than those of Cabel and Mason, situated on the 
borders — because the former are not so well acquainted with the real condition of the 
free black as the latter. 



92 

negroes, devoid of judgment and good management, became lazy 
and improvident, and every time one was so unfortunate as to fall 
sick, it immediately became necessary to support him. The whole 
plan soon disgusted the master, and proved that the free labor 
system would not answer for the best of our negroes; for those 
he tried were his best. Now these experiments were the more 
conclusive, because the master reserved the right of reimposing 
slavery upon them in case the experiment should not meet his ap- 
probation : every stimulus was thus offered, in case their freedom 
were really desirable, to work hard, but their natural indolence 
and carelessness triumphed over love of liberty, and demonstrated 
the fact, that free labor made out of slave, is the worst in the world. 
So far we have adduced instances from among mixed popula- 
tions alone. Some have imagined that the indolence of the libe- 
rated black in these cases, has arisen entirely from the presence of 
the whites, acknowledged to be the superior race both by law and 
custom ; that consequently if the blacks could be freed from the 
degrading influence exerted by the mere pressure of the whites, 
they would quickly manifest more desire to accumulate and acquire 
all the industrious habits of the English operative or New-Eng- 
land laborer. Although this is foreign to our immediate object, 
which is to prove the inefficacy of free black labor in our country, 
where of course whites must always be present, we will neverthe- 
less examine this opinion, because it has been urged in favor of 
that grand scheme of colonization recommended by some of the 
orators in the Virginia Legislature. Our own opinion is that the 
presence of the whites ought rather to be an incentive and encou- 
ragement to labor. Habits of industry are more easily acquired 
when all are busy and active around us. A man feels a spirit of 
industry and activity stir within him, from moving amongst such 
societies as those of Marseilles, Liverpool, and New-York, where 
the din of business and bustle assails his ears at every turn, where- 
as he soon becomes indolent and listless at Bath or Saratoga. Why 
then are our colored free men so generally indolent and worthless 
among the industrious and enterprising citizens of even our 
northern and New-England states f It is because there is an in 
herent and intrinsic cause at work, which will produce its effect 
under all circumstances. In the free black, the principle of idle- 
ness and dissipation triumphs over that of accumulation and the de- 
sire to better our condition ; the animal part of the man gains the 
victory over the moral ; and he consequently prefers sinking down 
into the listless inglorious repose of the brute creation, to rising 
to that energetic activity which can only be generated amid the 
multiplied, refined and artificial wants of civilized society. The 
very conception which nine slaves in ten have of liberty, is that of 
idleness and sloth with the enjoyment of plenty ; and we are not to 
wonder that they should hasten to practice upon their theory so 
soon as liberated. But the experiment has been sufficiently tried 



93 

to prove most conclusively that the free black will work nowhere 
except by compulsion. 

St. Domingo is often spoken of by philanthropists and schemers; 
the trial has there been made upon a scale sufficiently grand to 
test our opinions, and we are perfectly willing to abide the result 
of the experiment. 

The main purpose of the mission of Consul General M'Kenzie 
to Hayti, by the British government, was to clear up this very 
question. We have made every exertion to procure the very 
valuable notes of that gentleman on Hayti, but have failed: we 
are therefore obliged to rely upon the eighty-ninth number of the 
London .Quarterly, in one article of which, mention is made of 
the result of M'Kenzie's observations. "By all candid persons," 
says the Review, " the deliberate opinion which that able man has 
formed from careful observation, and the whole tenor of the evi- 
dence he has furnished, will be thought conclusive. Such invinci- 
ble repugnance do the free negroes of that island feel to labor, that 
the system of the code rural of 1826, about the genuineness of 
which so much doubt was entertained a Cew years ago, is described 
as falling little short of the compulsion to which the slaves had 
been subjected previous to their emancipation. ' The consequences 
of delinquency,' he says, 'are heavy fine and imprisonment, *.nd the 
provisions of the law are as despotic as can well be conceived.' He 
afterwards subjoins: — ' Such have been the various modes for in- 
ducing or compelling labor for nearly forty years. It is next ne- 
cessary to ascertain as far as it is practicable, the degree of suc- 
cess which .has attended each : and the only mode with which I 
am acquainted, is to give the returns of the exportecTagricultural 
produce during the same period, marking, where it can be done, 
any accidental circumstance that may have had an influence.' He 
then quotes the returns at length, and observes — ' There is one de- 
cided inference from the whole of these six returns, viz. the positive 
decrease of cane cultivation in all its branches — the diminution of 
other branches of industry, though not equally well marked, is 
no less certain, than that articles of spontaneous growth maintain, 
if not exceed, their former amount.' We may further add, that 
even the light labor required for trimming the planting coffee trees, 
has been so much neglected, that the export of coffee in 1830, 
falls short of that of 1829, by no less than. 10,000,000 pounds." 
(See London Quarterly Revieiu, No. 89, Art. West India Question.) 

We subjoin here, to exhibit the facts asserted by Mr. M'Kenzie 
in a more striking manner, a tabular view of some of the principal 
exports from St. Domingo, during her subjection to France, and 
during the best years of the reigns of Toussaint, Dessalines, and 
Boyer,* upon the authority of James Franklin on the Present 
State of Hayti. 

4 It is" known that under Boyer there was a union of the Island under one govern- 
ment, 

13 



94 



Produce. 


French. 


Toussaint. 


Dessalines. 


Boyer. 


Sugar, 
Coffee, 
Cotton, 


1791. 
163,405,220 lbs. 
68,151,180 
6,286,126 


1S02. 
53,400,000 lbs. 
34,370,000 
4,050,000 


1804. 
47,600,000 lbs. 
31,000,000 
3,000,000 


1822„* 
652,541 lbs. 
35,117,834- 
891,950 



There has been a gradual diminution of the amount of the pro- 
ducts of Hayti since 1822. In 1825 the whole value of exports 
was about $8,000,000, more than $1,000,000 less than in 1822, 
and the revenue of the island was not equal to the public expendi- 
ture. Is not this fair experiment for forty years, under more fa- 
vorable circumstances than any reasonable man had a right to an- 
ticipate, sufficient to convince and overwhelm the most sceptical as 
to the unproductiveness of slave labor converted into free labor? 

But the British colony at Sierra Leone is another case in point, 
to establish the same position. Evidence was taken in 1830 before 
a committee of the House of Commons. Captain Bullen, R. N. 
stated that at Sierra Leone they gave the blacks a portion of land 
to cultivate, and they cultivate just as much as will keep them and 
not an inch more. Mr. Jackson, one of the judges of the mixed 
commission court, being asked — " Taking into consideration the 
situation of Sierra Leone, and the attention paid by government 
to promote their comfort, what progress have they made towards 
civilization or the comforts of civilized life?" makes this answer — 
" I should say very inadequate to the efforts which have been made 
to promote their comfort and civilization." Captain Spence, being 
asked a similar question, replies — " I have formed a very indiffer- 
ent opinion as to their progress in industry. I have not been able 
to observe that they seem inclined to cultivate the country farther 
than vegetables and things of that kind. They do not seem in- 
clined to cultivate for exportation. Their wants are very few, and 
they are very wild; and their wants are supplied by the little ex- 
ertion they make. They have sufficient to maintain them in cloth- 
ing and food, and these are all their wants." 

Our own colony upon the coast of Africa proves too the same 
fact. It has been fed slowly and cautiously with emigrants, and 
yet Mr. Ashmun's intreaties to colonization-frrends in the United 
States, to recollect that rice did not grow spontaneously in Africa, 
to send out laboring men of good character, &c, but too conclu- 
sively show, in spite of the colored and exaggerated statements of 
prejudiced friends, the great difficulty of making the negroes work 
in even Liberia ;f and we have no doubt that if 6000 or 60,000 



* The other years give the returns for the French part of the Island, this for the 
Spanish and French, and ought therefore to be proportion ably greater. 

t We understand from most undoubted authority, that Mr. Barbour, a negro gentle- 
man from Liberia, who lately visited the Virginia Springs for the purpose of re-estab- 
lishing his health, which had given way under the deleterious influence of an African 
climate bears most unequivocal testimony to the idleness of the blacks in Liberia — thinks 
the statements which have been generally given of the colony greatly exaggerated— 
considers it a partial failure at least ; and laughs at the idea of its being made a recipient 
for the immense and rapidly increasing mass of our whole black population. 



95 

tould be colonized annually in Africa, there would not be a more 
worthless and indolent race of people upon the face of the globe 
than our African colonies would exhibit. 

We have now, we think, proved our position that slave labor in 
an economical point of view, is far superior to free negro labor ; 
and have no doubt that if an immediate emancipation of the ne- 
groes were to take place, the whole southern country would be 
visited with an immediate general famine, from which the produc- 
tive resources of all the other states of the Union could not deli- 
ver them. 

It is now easy for us to demonstrate the second point in our ar- 
gument — that the slave is not only economically but morally unfit 
for freedom. And first, idleness and consequent want, are of them- 
selves sufficient to generate a catalogue of vices of the most mis- 
chievous and destructive character. , Look to the penal prosecu- 
tions of every country, and mark the situation of those who fall 
victims to the laws. And what a frightful proportion do we find 
among the indigent and idle classes of society! Idleness generates 
want — want gives rise to temptation — and strong temptation makes 
the villain. The most appropriate prayer for frail imperfect man, 
is, "lead us not into temptation." Mr. Archer of Virginia well 
observed in a speech before the Colonization Society, that " the 
free blacks were destined by an insurmountable barrier — to the 
want of occupation — thence to the want of food — thence to the 
distresses which ensue that want — thence to the settled deprivation 
which grows out of those distresses, and is nursed at their bosoms ; 
and this condition was not casually but fate. The evidence was 
not speculation in political economy — it was geometrical demon- 
stration." 

We are not to wonder that this class of citizens should be so de- 
praved and immoral. An idle population will always be worthless; 
and it is a mistake to think that they are onty worthless in the 
Southern States, where it is erroneously supposed the slavery of a 
portion of their race depresses them below their condition in the 
free states: on the contrary, we are disposed rather to think their 
condition better in the slave than the free states. Mr. Everett, in 
a speech before the Colonization Society, during the present year, 
says, "they (the free blacks) form in Massachusetts about one-se- 
venty-fifth part of the population ; one-sixth of the convicts in our 
prisons are of this class." The average number of annual con- 
victions in the state of Virginia, estimated by the late Governor 
Giles, from the penitentiary reports, up to 1829, is seventy-one for 
the whole population — making one in every sixteen thousand of 
the white population, one in every twenty-two thousand of the 
slaves, and one for every five thousand of the free colored people. 
Thus, it will be seen, that crimes among the free blacks are more 
than three times as numerous as among the whites, and four and 
a half times more numerous than among the slaves. But although 
the free blacks have thus much the largest proportion of crime to 



96 

answer for, yet the proportion is not so great in Virginia as in 
Massachusetts. Although they are relatively to the other classes 
more numerous, making the one-thirtieth of the population of 
the state, not one-eighth of the whole number of convicts are from 
among them in Virginia, while in Massachusetts there is one-sixih. 
We may infer, then, they are not so degraded and vicious in Vir- 
ginia, a slave-holding state, as in Massachusetts, a non-slave- 
holding state. But there is one fact to which we invite particularly 
the attention of those philanthropists who have the elevation of 
southern slaves so much at heart — that the slaves in Virginia 
furnish a much smaller annual proportion of convicts than the 
whites, and among the lattei* a very large proportion of the convicts 
consist of foreigners or citizens of other states. 

There is one disadvantage attendant upon free blacks, in the 
slave holding states, which is not felt in the non-slave-holding. In 
the former they corrupt the slaves, encourage them to steal from 
their masters by purchasing from them, and they are, too, a sort 
of moral conductor by which the slaves can better organize and 
concert plans of mischief among themselves. 

So far we have been speaking of the evils resulting from mere 
idleness ; but there are other circumstances which must not be omit- 
ted in an enumeration of the obstacles to emancipation. The blacks 
have now all tiie habits and feelings of slaves, the whites have 
those of masters; the prejudices are formed, and mere legislation 
cannot remove them. "Give me," said a wise man, "the forma- 
tion of the habits and manners of a people, and I care not who 
makes the laws." Declare the negroes of the South free to-mor- 
row, and vain will be your decree until you have prepared them for it; 
you depress, instead of elevating. The law would, in every point 
of view, be one of the most cruel and inhumane which could pos- 
sibly be passed. The law would make them freemen, and custom 
or prejudice, we care not which you call it, would degrade them 
to the condition of slaves ; and soon should we see, that " it is 
happened unto them, according to the true proverb, the dog is 
turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to 
her wallowing in the mire." " Ne quid nimis^ should be our 
maxim ; and we must never endeavor to elevate beyond what cir- 
cumstances will allow. It is better that each one should remain in 
society in the condition in which he has been born and trained, 
and not to mount too fast without preparation. If a Virginia or 
South Carolina farmer wished to make his overseer perfectly mise- 
rable, lie could not better do it, than by persuading him that he was 
not only a freeman, but a polished gentleman likewise, and conse- 
quently, induce him to enter his drawing room. He would soon 
sigh for the fields, and less polished but more suitable companions. 
Hence, in the southern states the condition of the free blacks is 
better than in the northern ; in the latter he is told that he is a 
freeman and entirely equal to the white, and prejudice assigns to 
him a degraded station — light is furnished him by which to view 



97 

the interior of the fairy palace which is fitted up for him, and cus* 
torn expels him from it, after the law has told him it was his. He 
consequently leads a life of endless mortification and disap- 
pointment. Tantalus like, he has frequently the cup to his lips, 
and imperious custom dashes it untasted from him. In the south- 
ern states, law and custom more generally coincide; the former 
makes no profession which the latter does not sanction, and conse- 
quently the free black has nothing to grieve and disappoint him. 

We have already said, in the course of this review, that if we 
were to liberate the slaves, we could not, in fact, alter their condi- 
tion — they would still be virtually slaves; talent, habit, and 
wealth, would make the white the master still, and the emancipa- 
tion would only have the tendency to deprive him of those sympa- 
thies and kind feelings for the black which now characterize him. 
Liberty has been the heaviest curse to the slave, when given too 
soon ; we have already spoken of the eagerness and joy with 
which the negroes of Mr. Steele, in Barbadoes, returned to a 
state of slavery. The east of Europe affords hundreds of similar 
instances. In 1791, Stanislaus Augustus, preparing a hopeless 
resistance to the threatened attack of Russia, in concert with the 
states, gave to Poland a consiitution which established the com- 
plete personal freedom of the peasantry. The boon has never 
been recalled, and what was the consequence? " Finding," (says 
Jones, in his volume on Rents,) " their dependence on their pro- 
prietors for subsistence remained undiminished, the peasants showed 
no very grateful sense of the boon bestowed upon them ; they 
feared they should now be deprived of all claim upon the proprie- 
tors for assistance, when calamity or infirmity overtook them. It 
is only since they have discovered that the connexion between them 
and the owners of the estates on which they reside is little altered 
in practice, and that their old masters very generally continue, from 
expediency or humanity, the occasional aid they formerly lent 
them, that they have become reconciled to their new character of 
freemen." " The Polish boors are, therefore, in fact still slaves, 19 
says Burnett, in his " View of the Present State of Poland," " and 
relatively to their political existence, absolutely subject to the will 
of their lord as in all the barbarism of the feudal times." — "I 
was once on a short journey with a nobleman, when we stopped 
to bait at a farm-house of a village. The peasants got intelli- 
gence of the presence of their lord, and assembled in a body of 
twenty or thirty to prefer a petition to him. I was never more 
struck with the appearance of these poor wretches, and the con- 
trast of their condition with that of their master ; I stood at a dis- 
tance, and perceived that he did not yield to their supplication. 
When he dismissed them, I had the curiosity to inquire the object 
of their petition; and he replied, that they had begged for an in- 
creased allowance of land, on the plea that what they had was insuf- 
ficient for their support. He added, 'I did not grant it them because 
their present allotment is the usual quantity, and as it has sufficed hith- 



erto, so I know it will in time to come. Besides,' said he, 'if I 
give them more, I well know that it will not in reality better their 
circumstances.' Poland does not furnish a man of more humanity 
than the one who rejected this apparently reasonable petition ; but 
it must be allowed that he had reasons for what he did. Those 
degraded and wretched beings, instead of hoarding the small sur- 
plus of their absolute necessaries, are almost universally accus- 
tomed to expend it in that abominable spirit, which they call 
schnaps. It is incredible what quantities of this pernicious liquor 
are drunk by the peasant men and women. The first time I saw 
any of these withered creatures was at Dantzic. I was prepared, 
by printed accounts, to expect a sight of singular wretchedness ; 
but I shrunk involuntarily from the sight of the reality. Some 
involuntary exclamation of surprise, mixed with compassion, es- 
caped me ; a thoughtless and a feelingless person (which are about 
the same thing) was standing by, 'Oh, sir,' says he, ' you will find 
plenty of such people as these in Poland ; and you may strike them 
and kick them, or do what you please with them, and they will never 
resist you : they dare not.' Far be it from me to ascribe the feelings 
of this man to the more cultivated and humanized Poles ; but such 
incidental and thoughtless expressions betray but too sensibly the 
general state of feeling which exists in regard to these oppressed 
men." The traveller will now look in vain, throughout our slave- 
holding country, for such misery as is here depicted; and in spite 
of all the tales told by gossipping travellers, he will find no master 
so relentless as the Polish proprietor, and no young man so 
" thoughtless" and cl feelingless" as the young Pole above men- 
tioned. But liberate our slaves, and in a very few years we shall 
have all these horrors and reproaches added unto us. 

In Livonia, likewise, the serfs were prematurely liberated ; and 
mark the consequences. Von Halen, who travelled through Li- 
vonia in 1819, observes, "along the high-road through Livonia 
are found, at short distances, filthy public houses, called in the 
country Rhatcharuas, before the doors of which are usually seen a 
multitude of wretched carts and sledges belonging to the peasants, 
who are so addicted to brandy and strong liquors* that they spend 
whole hours in those places. Nothing proves so much the slate of 
barbarism in which those men are sunk, as the manner in which 
they received the decree issued about this time. These savages, 
unwilling to depend upon their own exertions for support, made all 
the resistance in their power to that decree, the execution of which 
was at length intrusted to an armed force," The Livonian pea- 
sants, therefore, received their new privileges yet more ungracious- 
ly than the Poles, though accompanied with the gift of property 
and secure means of subsistence, if they chose to exert themselves. 
By an edict of Maria Theresa, called, by the Hungarians, the 

* We believe, in case of an emancipation of our blacks, that drunkenness would be 
among them like the destroying angel. 



99 

ubarium, personal slavery and attachment to the soil were abolish- 
ed, and the peasants declared to be " homines liberce transmigra- 
tionis -" and yet, says Jones, " the authority of the owners of the 
soil over the persons and property of their tenantry has been very 
imperfectly abrogated; the necessities of the peasants oblige them 
frequently to resort to their landlords for loans of food ; they be- 
come laden with heavy debts, to be discharged by labor.* The 
proprietors retain the right of employing them at pleasure, paying 
them, in lieu of subsistence, about one-third of the actual value of 
their labor; and lastly, the administration of justice is still in the 
hands of the nobles; and one of the first sights which strikes a 
foreigner, on approaching their mansions, is a sort of low frame- 
work of posts, to which a serf is tied when it is thought proper to 
administer the discipline of the whip, for offences which do not 
I seem grave enough to demand a formal trial." kJ 

' Let us for a moment revert to the black republic of Hayti, and 

we shall see that the negroes have gained nothing by their bloody 
revolution. Mr. Franklin, who derives his information from per- 
sonal inspection, gives the following account of the present state 
of the island : — " Oppressed with the weight of an overwhelming 
debt, contracted without an equivalent, with an empty treasury, 
and destitute of the ways and means for supplying it; the soil al- 
most neglected, or at least very partially tilled ; without commerce 
or credit. Such is the present state of the republic ; and it seems 
almost impossible that, under the system which is now pursued, 
there should be any melioration of its condition, or that it can ar- 
rive at any very high state of improvement. Hence, there ap- 
pears every reason to apprehend that it will recede into irrecovera- 
ble insignificance, poverty, and disorder" (p. 265.) And the 
great mass of the Haytiens are virtually in a state of as abject 
slavery as when the island was under the French dominion. The 
government soon found it absolutely necessary to establish a sys- 
tem of compulsion in all respects as bad, and more intolerable, 
than when slavery existed. The Code Henri prescribed the most 
mortifying regulations, to be obeyed by the laborers of the island ; 
work was to commence at day light, and continue uninterruptedly till 
eight o'clock ; one hour was then allowed to the laborer to breakfast 
on the spot ; at nine work commenced again and continued until 
twelve, when two hours repose was given to the laborer ; at two he 
commenced again, and worked until night. All these regulations 
were enforced by severe penal enactments. Even Toussaint 
l'Ouverture, who is supposed to have had the welfare of the ne- 
groes as much at heart as any other ruler in St. Domingo, in one 
of his proclamations in the ninth year of the French republic, 

* Almost "all our free negroes will run in debt to the full amount of their credit. " I 
never knew a free negro," says an intelligent correspondent, in a late letter, "who 
would not contract debts, if allowed, to greater amount than he could pay ; and those 
whom I have suffered to reside on my land, although good mechanics, have been gen- 
erally so indolent and improvident as to be in my debt at the end of the year, for pro- 
visions, brandy, &c, when I would allow it." 



iOO 

peremptorily directs — " all free laborers, men and women, now in 
a state of idleness, and living in towns, villages, and on other planta- 
tions than those to which they belong, with the intention to evade 
work, even those of both sexes who had not been employed in field 
labor since the revolution, are required to return immediately to 
their respective plantations*" And in article seven, he directs, 
that " the overseers and drivers of every plantation shall make it 
their business to inform the commanding officer of the district in 
regard to the conduct of the laborers under their management, as 
well as those who shall absent themselves from their plantations 
without a pass) and of those who residing on the plantations shall 
refuse to work ; they shall be forced to go to the labor of the field, 
and if they prove obstinate, they shall be arrested and carried be- 
fore the military commandant, in order to suffer the punishment 
above prescribed, according to the exigence of the case, the pun- 
ishment being fine and imprisonment." And here is the boasted 
freedom of the negroes of St. Domingo; — the appalling vocabulary 
of •' overseer," " driver," " pass," &c, is not even abolished. 
Slavery to the government and its military officers is substituted 
for private slavery ; the black master has stepped into the shoes of 
the white; and we all know that he is the most cruel of masters, 
and more dreaded by the negro than any of the ten plagues of 
Egypt. We are well convinced, that there is not a single negro 
in the commonwealth of Virginia who would accept such freedom; 
and yet the happiest of the human race are constantly invited to 
sigh for such freedom,* and to sacrifice all their happiness in the 
vain wish. But it is not necessary further to multiply examples ; 
enough has already been said, we hope, to convince the most scep- 
tical of the great disadvantage to the slave himself, of freedom, 
when he is not prepared for it. It is unfortunate, indeed, that pre- 
judiced and misguided philanthropists so often assert as facts, what, 
on investigation, turns out not only false, but even hostile to the 
very theories which they are attempting to support by them. We 
have already given one example of this kind of deception, in re- 
lation to Mr. Steele. We will now give another. 

" In the year 1760, the Chancellor Zamoyski," says Burnett, 
"enfranchised six villages in the Palatinate of Masovia. This 
experiment has been much vaunted by Mr. Coxe, as having been 
attended with all the good effects desired ; and he asserts that the 
chancellor had, in consequence, enfranchised the peasants on all 
his estates. Both of these assertions are false. I inquired parti- 
cularly of the son of the present Count Zamoyski respecting these 
six villages, and was grieved to learn, that the experiment had com- 
pletely failed. The count said, that within a few years he had 
sold the estate; and added, I was glad to get rid of it from the 
trouble the peasants gave me. These degraded beings, on receiv- 
ing their freedom, were overjoyed at they knew not what, having 
no distinct comprehension of what freedom meant ; but merely a 



101 - 

rude notion that they may now do what they like.* They ran 
into every species of excess and extravagance which their circum- 
stances admitted. Drunkenness, instead of being occasional, be- 
came almost perpetual ; riot and disorder usurped the place of 
quietness and industry; the necessary labor suspended, the lands 
were worse cultivated than before; the small rents required of 
them they were often unable to, pay." ( Burnett 9 s View of Po- 
land, p. 105.J Indeed, it is a calamity to mankind, that zealous 
and overheated philanthropists will not suffer the truth to circu- 
late, when believed hostile to their visionary schemes. Such ex- 
amples as the foregoing ought to be known and attended to. They 
would prevent a great deal of that impatient silly action which 
has drawn down such incalculable misery, so frequently, upon the 
human family. " There is a time for all things," and nothing in 
this world should be done before its time. An emancipation of 
our slaves would check at once that progress of improvement, 
which is now so manifest among them. The whites would either 
gradually withdraw, and leave whole districts or settlements in 
their possession, in which case they would sink rapidly in the scale 
of civilization ; or the blacks, by closer intercourse, would bring 
the whites down to their level. In the contact between the civilized 
and uncivilized man, all history and experience show, that the 
former will be sure to sink to the level of the latter. In these 
cases it is always easier to descend than ascend, and nothing will 
prevent the facilis descensus but slavery. 

The great evil, however, of these schemes of emancipation, re- 
mains yet to be told. They xtre admirably calculated to excite 
plots, murders, and insurrections ; whether gradual or rapid in 
their operation, this is the inevitable tendency. In the former 
case, you disturb the quiet and contentment of the slave who is 
left unemancipated ; and he becomes the midnight murderer to 
gain that fatal freedom whose blessings he does not comprehend. 
In the latter case, want and invidious distinction will prompt to re- 
venge. Two totally different races, as we have before seen, can- 
not easily harmonize together; and although we have no idea that 
any organized plan of insurrection or rebellion can ever secure for 
the black the superiority, even when free,f yet his idleness will 
produce want and worthlessness, and his very worthlessness and 
degradation will stimulate him to deeds of rapine and vengeance ; 
he will oftener engage in plots and massacres, and thereby draw 
down on his devoted head the vengeance of the provoked whites. 
But one limited massacre is recorded in Virginia history; let her 
liberate her slaves, and every year you would hear of insurrections 
and plots, and every day would perhaps record a murder ; the 



* Precisely such a notion as that entertained by the slaves of this country and the 
West Indies. 

t Power can never be dislodged from the hands of the intelligent, the wealthy, and 
the courageous, by any plans that can be formed by the poor, the ignorant, and the 
habitually subservient ; history scarce furnishes such an example. 
14 



102 

melancholy tale of Southampton would not alone blacken the page 
of our history, and make the tender mother shed the tear of hor- 
ror over her babe as she clasped it to her bosom ; others of a 
deeper die would thicken upon us ; those regions where the bright- 
ness of polished life has dawned and brightened into full day, 
would relapse into darkness, thick and full of horrors, and in those 
dark and dismal hours, we might well exclaim, in the shuddering 
language of the poet — 

" Nox atra cava circumvolat umbra 

Gluis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando 

Explicit? * * * * 

lUrbs antiqua ruit, multos dominata per annos 

Plurima perque vias stermmtur inertia passim 

Corpora per que domos, et religiosa deorum 

Limma. * * Crudelis ubique 

Luctus ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago." 

Colombia and Guatemala have tried the dangerous experiment 
of emancipation, and we invite the attention of the reader to the 
following dismal picture of the city of Guatemala, drawn by the 
graphic pencil of Mr. Dunn — "With Lazaroni in rags and filth, 
a colored population drunken and revengeful, her females licentious 
and her males shameless, she ranks as a true child of that ac- 
cursed city, which still remains as a living monument of the fulfil- 
ment of prophesy and the forbearance of God, the hole of every 
foul spirit, the cage of every unclean and hateful Hbird. The pure 
and simple sweets of domestic life, with its thousand tendernesses 
and its gentle affections, are here exchanged for the feverish joys 
of a dissipated hour; — and the peaceful home of love is converted 
into a theatre of mutual accusations and recriminations. This 
leads to violent excesses ; men carry a large knife in a belt, women 
one fastened in the garter. Not a day passes without murder ; on 
fast days and on Sundays, the average number killed is from four 
to five. From the number admitted in the hospital of St. Juan 
de Dios, it appears that in the year 1827, near fifteen hundred 
were stabbed, of whom from three to four hundred died."* Thank 
Heaven no such scenes as these have yet been witnessed in our 
country. From the day of the arrival of the negro slaves upon 
our coast in the Dutch vessel, up to the present hour, a period of 
more than two hundred years, there have not perished in the 
whole southern country by the hands of slaves, a number of 
whites equal to the average annual stabbings in the city of Gua- 
temala, containing a population of 30,000 souls ! ! "Nor is the 
freed African," says Dunn, "one degree raised in the scale — un- 
der fewer restraints, his vices display themselves more disgustingly ; — 
insolent and proud, indolent and a liar, he imitates only the vices 
of his superiors, and to the catalogue of his former crimes adds 
drunkenness and theft." Do not all these appalling examples but 
too eloquently tell the consequences of emancipation, and bid us 

* See Dunn's Sketches of Guatemala, in 1827 and 1828, pp. 95, 96, and 97. 



103 

well beware how we enter on any system which will be almost 
certain to bring down ruin and degradation on both the whites 
and the blacks ? 

But in despite of all the reasoning and illustrations which can 
be urged, the example of the northern states of our confederacy 
and the west of Europe afford, it is thought by some, conclusive 
evidence of the facility of changing the slave into the freeman. 
As to the former, it is enough to say that paucity of numbers,* 
uncongenial climate, and the state of agriculture to the north, to- 
gether with the great demand of slaves to the south, alone accom- 
plished the business. In reference to the west of Europe, it was 
the rise of the towns, the springing up of a middle class, and a 
change of agriculture, which gradually and silently effected the 
emancipation of the slaves, in a great measure through the opera- 
tion of the selfish principle itself. Commerce and manufactures 
arose in the western countries, and with them sprang up a middle 
class of freemen, in the cities and the country too, which gradually 
and imperceptibly absorbed into its body all the slaves. But for 
this middle class, which acted as the absorbent, the slaves could not 
have been liberated with safety or advantage to either party. 
Now, in our southern country, there is no body of this kind to 
become the absorbent, nor are we likely to have such a body, un- 
less we look into the vista of the future, and imagine a time when 
the south shall be to the north, what England now is to Ireland, 
and will consequently be overrun with northern laborers, under- 
bidding the means of subsistence which will be furnished to the ne- 
gro : then perhaps such a laboring class, devoid of all pride and 
habits of lofty bearing, may become a proper recipient or absorbent 
for emancipated slaves. But even then we fear the effects of dif- 
ference of color. The slave of Italy or France could be emanci- 
pated or escape to the city, and soon all records of his former state 
would perish, and he would gradually sink into the mass of free- 
men around him. But unfortunately the emancipated black car- 
ries a mark which no time can erase ; he forever wears the indeli- 
ble symbol of his inferior condition ; the Ethiopian cannot change 
his skin, nor the leopard his spots. 

In Greece and Rome, and we imagine it was so during the feudal 
ages, the domestic slaves were frequently among the most learned, 
virtuous, and intelligent members of society. Terence, Phsedrus, 
Esop, and Epictetus were all slaves. They were frequently taught 
all the arts and sciences, in order that they might be more valuable 
to their masters. " Seneca relates," says Wallace in his Numbers 
of Mankind, "that Calvisius Labinus had many anagnostae slaves, 
or such as were learned and could read to their masters, and that 
none of them were purchased under £807 5s. 10c?. According 
to Pliny, Daphnis the grammarian cost .£5651 10*. 10c?. Ros- 

* "There are more free negroes and mulattoes, said Judge Tucker in 1803, in Vir- 
ginia alone, than are to be found in the four New-England states, and Vermont in ad- 
dition to them." {Tucker's Blackstone, vol. 1. Part 2nd. p. 66, foot note.) 



104 

cius the actor would gain yearly <£4036 9s. 2d. A morio, or 
fool, was sold for <£16L 95. 2d* (Wallace on the Numbers of 
Mankind, page 142.J There was no obstacle, therefore, to the 
emancipation of such men as these (except as to the fool,) either 
on the score of color, intelligence, habits, or any thing else — the 
body of freemen could readily and without difficulty or danger 
absorb them. Not so now — nor ever will it be in all time to 
come, with our blacks. With these remarks, we shall close our 
examination of the plans by which it has been or may be proposed 
to get rid of slavery. If our arguments are sound, and reason- 
ings conclusive, we have shown they are all wild and visionary, 
calculated to involve the south in ruin and degradation : and we 
now most solemnly call upon the statesman and the patriot, the 
editor and the philanthropist, to pause, and consider well, before 
they move in this dangerous and delicate business. But a few 
hasty and fatal steps in advance, and the work may be irre- 
trievable. For Heaven's sake then let us pause, and recollect, 
that on this subject, so pregnant with the safety, happiness, and 
prosperity of millions, we shall be doomed to realize the fearful 
motto, " nulla vestigia retrorsum." 

There are some who, in the plenitude of their folly and reck- 
lessness, have likened the cause of the blacks to Poland and 
France, and have darkly hinted that the same aspirations which 
the generous heart breathes for the cause of bleeding, suffering 
Poland, and revolutionary France, must be indulged for the in- 
surrectionary blacks. And has it come at last to this? that the 
hellish plots and massacres of Dessalines, Gabriel, and Nat Tur- 
ner, are to be compared to the noble deeds and devoted patriotism 
of Lafayette, Kosciusko, and Schrynecki? and we suppose the 
same logic would elevate Lundi and Garrison to Niches in the 
Temple of Fame, by the side of Locke and Rousseau. There is 
an absurdity in this conception, which so outrages reason and the 
most common feelings of humanity, as to render it unworthy of se- 
rious patient refutation. But we will, nevertheless, for a moment 
examine it, and we shall find, on their own principles, if such rea- 
soners have any principles, that their conception is entirely fal- 
lacious. The true theory of the right of revolution we conceive to 
be the following: no men or set of men are justifiable in attempt- 
ing a revolution which must certainly fail; or if successful must 
produce necessarily a much worse state of things than the pre-exis- 
tent order. We have not the right to plunge the dagger into the 
monarch's bosom merely because he is a monarch — we must be 
sure it is the only means of dethroning a tyrant and giving peace 
and happiness to an aggrieved and suffering people. Brutus 
would have had no right to kill Caesar if he could have foreseen the 
consequences. If France and Poland had been peopled with a 
race of serfs and degraded citizens, totally unfit for freedom and 
self-government, and Lafayette and Kosciusko could have known 



\ 105 

it, they would have been parricides instead of patriots, to have rous- 
ed such ignorant and unhappy wretches to engage in a revolution 
whose object the} 7 could not comprehend, and which would inevita- 
bly involve them in all the horrors of relentless carnage and massa- 
cre. No man has ever yet contended that the blacks could gain 
their liberty and an ascendency over the whites by wild insur- 
rections ; no one has ever imagined that \\\?y could do more 
than bring down, by their rash and barbarous achievements, the 
vengeance of the infuriated whites upon their devoted heads. 
Where then is the analogy to Poland and to France, lands of gene- 
rous achievement, ofjearning, and of high and noble purposes, and 
with people capable of self-government? We shall conclude this 
branch of our subject with the following splendid extract from a 
speech of Mr. Canning, which should at least make the rash legis- 
lator more distrustful of his specifics. 

" In dealing with a negro we must remember that we are dealing 
with a being possessing the form and strength of a man, but the 
intellect only of a child. To turn him loose in the manhood of 
his physical passions, but in the infancy of his uninstructed reason, 
would be to raise up a creature resembling the splendid fiction of 
a recent romance ; the hero of which constructs a human form with 
all the physical capabilities of man, and with the thews and sinews 
of a giant, but being unable to impart to the work of his hands a 
perception of right and wrong, he finds too late that he has only 
created a more than mortal power of doing mischief, and himself 
recoils from the monster which he has made. What is it we have 
to deal with? is it an evil of yesterday's origin? with a thing 
which has grown up in our time — of which we have watched the 
growth— measured the extent — and which we haye ascertained the 
means of correcting or controlling? No, we have to deal with an 
evil which is the growth of centuries and of tens of centuries ; 
which is almost coeval with the deluge; which has existed under 
different modifications since man was man. Do gentlemen, in 
their passion for legislation, think, that after only thirty years dis- 
cussion, they can now at once manage as they will the most un- 
manageable perhaps of all subjects? or do we forget, sir, that in 
fact not more than thirty years have elapsed since we first presum- 
ed to approach even the outworks of this great question ? Do we, 
in the ardor of our nascent reformation, forget that during the ages 
which this system has existed, no preceding generation of legisla- 
tors has ventured to touch it with a reforming hand ; and have we 
the vanity to flatter ourselves that we can annihilate it at a blow? 
No Sir, No! — If we are to do good it is not to be done by sudden 
and violent measures." Let the warning language of Mr. Can- 
ning be attended to in our legislative halls, and all rash and intem- 
perate legislation avoided. We will now proceed to the last divi- 
sion of our subject, and examine a little into the injustice and evils 
of slavery, with the view of ascertaining if we are really exposed 



106 

to those dangers and horrors which many seem to anticipate in the 
current of time. 

III. Injustice and Evils of Slavery. 

1st. It is said slavery is wrong, in the abstract at least, and con- 
trary to the spirit of Christianity. To this we answer as before, 
that any question must be determined by its circumstances, and if, 
as really is the case, we cannot get rid of slavery without produ- 
cing a greater injury to both the masters and slaves, there is no rule 
of conscience or revealed law of God which can condemn us. 
The physician will not order the spreading cancer to be extirpated 
although it will eventually cause the death of his patient, because he 
would thereby hasten the fatal issue. So if slavery had commenced^ 
even contrary to the laws of God and man, and the sin of its intro- 
duction rested upon our hands, and it was even carrying forward 
the nation by slow degrees to final ruin — yet if it were certain that an 
attempt to remove it would only hasten and heighten the final ca- 
tastrophe — that it was in fact a ; ' vulnus immedicabile" on the body 
politic, which no legislation could safely remove, then, we would 
not only not be found to attempt the extirpation, but we would stand 
guilty of a high offence in the sight of both God and man, if we 
should rashly make the effort. But the original sin of introduction 
rests not on our heads, and we shall soon see that all those dread- 
ful calamities which the false prophets of our day are pointing to, 
will never in all probability occur. With regard to the assertion, 
that slavery is against the spirit of Christianity, we are ready to 
admit the general assertion, but deny most positively that there is 
any thing in the Old or New Testament, which would go to show 
that slavery, when once introduced, ought at all events to be 
abrogated, or that the master commits any offence in holding 
slaves. The children of Israel themselves were slave holders, 
and were not condemned' for it. All the patriarchs themselves 
were slave holders — Abraham had more than three hundred — Isaac 
had a " great store"* of them, — and even the patient and meek Job 
himself, had " a very great household." When the children of Israel 
conquered the land of Canaan, they made one whole tribe " hewers 
of wood and drawers of water," and they were at that very time un- 
der the, special guidance of Jehovah; they were permitted express- 
ly to purchase slaves of the heathens, and keep them as an inheri- 
tance for their posterity — and even the Children of Israel might be 
enslaved for six years. i When we turn to the New Testament, we 
find not one single passage at all calculated to disturb the conscience 
of an honest slave holder. No one can read it without seeing and 
admiring that the meek and humble Saviour of the world in no in- 
stance meddled with the established institutions of mankind — he 

" And the man (Isaac) waxed great and went forward, and grew until he became 
very great ; for he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of 
servants." (Gen. chap. 26.) 



107 

came to save a fallen world, and not to excite the black passions 
C of men and array them in deadly hostility against each other* 
From no one did he turn away ; his plan was offered alike- to all- — ' 
to the monarch and the subject — the rich and the poor- — the master 
and tbe slave. He was born in the Roman world, a world in which 
the most galling slavery existed, a thousand times more cruel than 
the slavery in our own country — and yet he no where encourages 
insurrection — he nowhere fosters discontent — but exhorts always to 
implicit obedience and fidelity. What a rebuke does the practice 
of the Redeemer of mankind imply upon the conduct of some of 
his nominal disciples of the day, who seek to destroy the content- 
ment of the slaves, to rouse their most deadly passions, to break up 
the deep foundations of society, and to lead on to a night of dark- 
ness and confusion ! " Let every man (says Paul,) abide in the 
same calling wherein he is called. Art thou called being a servant ? 
care not for it; but if thou mayest be made free use it rather." 
(1 Corinthians, vii. 20, 21.) Again; " Let as many servants as are 
under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that 
the name of God and his doctrines be not blasphemed; and they 
that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because 
they are brethren, but rather do them service, because they are 
faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. These things teach 
and exhort." (1 Tim, vi. 1, 2.) Servants are even commanded in 
Scripture to be faithful and obedient to unkind masters. "Ser- 
vants, (says Peter,) be subject to your masters with all fear; not 
only to the good and gentle, but to the frovvard. For what glory 
is it if when ye shall be buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently; 
but if when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is 
acceptable with God." (1 Peter, ii. 18, 20.) These, and many 
other passages in the New Testament, most convincingly prove, 
that slavery in the Roman world was nowhere charged as a fault 
or crime upon the holder, and everywhere is the most inlplicit obe- 
dience enjoined.* 

We beg leave, before quitting this topic, to address a few remarks 
to those who have conscientious scruples about the holding of slaves, 
and therefore consider themselves under an obligation to break all 
the ties of friendship and kindred — dissolve all the associations of 
happier days, to flee to a land where this evil does not exist. We 
cannot condemn the conscientious actions of mankind, but^we must 
be permitted to say, that if the assumption even of these pious 
gentlemen be correct, we do consider their conduct as very unphi- 
losophical, and we will go further still, we look upon it as even im- 
moral upon their own principles. Let us admit that slavery is an 
evil, and what then ? why it has been entailed upon us by no fault of 
ours, and must we shrink from the charge which devolves upon us, 
and throw the slave in consequence into the hands of those who 
have no scruples of conscience — those who will not perhaps treat him 

* See Ephesians, vi. 5, 9, Titus, ii. 9, 10. Philemon. Colossians, iii, 22, andiv. 1. 



108 

so kindly? No! this is not philosophy, it is not morality ; we must re- 
collect that the unprofitable man was thrown into utter darkness, To 
the slave-holder has truly been intrusted the five talents. Let him 
but recollect the exhortation of the Aposile — "Masters, give unto 
your servants that which is just and equal ; knowing that ye also have 
a master in Heaven;" and in the final day he shall have nothing 
on this score with which his conscience need be smitten, and he may 
expect the welcome plaudit — " Well done thou good and faithful 
servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee 
ruler over many things ; enter thou into the joy of the Lord." 
Hallam, in his History of the Middle Ages, says, that the greatest 
moral evil flowing from monastic establishments, consisted in 
withdrawing the good and religious from society, and leaving the 
remainder unchecked and unrestrained in the pursuit of their vici- 
ous practices. Would not such principles as those just, mentioned 
lead to a similar result ? We cannot, therefore, but consider them 
as whining and sickly, and highly unphilosophical and detrimental 
to society. 

2dly. But it is further said that the moral effects of slavery are 
of the most deleterious and hurtful kind ; and as Mr. Jefferson has 
given the sanction of his great name to this charge, we shall pro- 
ceed to examine it with all that respectful deference to which every 
sentiment of so pure and philanthropic a heart is justly entitled. 

"The whole commerce between master and slave," says he, "is 
a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions — the most 
unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission 
on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it, for 
man is an imitative animal — this quality is the germ of education 
in him. From his cradle to his grave, he is learning what he sees 
others do. If a parent had no other motive, either in his own phi- 
lanthropy or self love, for restraining the intemperance of passion 
towards his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his child 
is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent storms, 
the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the 
same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to his worst 
of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised in the 
worst of tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious pecu- 
liarities."* Now we boldly assert that the fact does not bear Mr. 
Jefferson out in his conclusions. He has supposed the master in a 
continual passion — in the constant exercise of the most odious ty- 
ranny, and the child, a creature of imitation, looking on and learn- 
ing. But is not this master sometimes kind and indulgent to his 
slaves? does he not rnete out to them, for faithful service, the re- 
ward of his cordial approbation? Is it not his interest to do it? 
and when thus acting humanely, and speaking kindly, where is the 
child, the creature of imitation, that he does not look on and learn ? 
We may rest assured, in this intercourse between a good master 

* Jefferson's Notes on Virginia. 



109 

and his servant, more good than evil may be taught the child, the 
exalted principles of morality and religion may thereby be some- 
times indelibly inculcated upon his mind, and instead of being rear- 
ed a selfish contracted being, with nought but self to look to — he 
acquires a more exalted benevolence, a greater generosity and ele- 
vation of soul, and embraces for the sphere of his generous actions 
a much wider field. Look to the slave holding population of our 
country, and you everywhere find them characterized by noble and 
elevated sentiment, by humane and virtuous feelings. We do not 
find among them that cold, contracted, calculating selfishness, which 
withers and repels every thing around it, and lessens or destroys 
all the multiplied enjoyments of social intercourse. Go into our 
national councils, and ask for the most generous, the most disinte- 
rested, the most conscientious, and the least unjust and oppressive 
in their principles, and see whether the slave holder will be past by 
in the selection. Edwards says that slavery in the West Indies 
seems to awaken the laudable propensities of our nature, such as 
" frankness, sociability, benevolence, and generosity. In no part 
of the globe is the virtue of hospitality more prevalent than in the 
British sugar islands. The gates of the planter are always open 
to the reception of his guests — to be a stranger is of itself a suffi- 
cient introduction." 

Is it not a fact, known to every man in the South, that the most 
cruel masters are those who have been unaccustomed to slavery. It 
is well known that northern gentlemen who marry southern heires- 
ses, are much severer masters than southern gentlemen.* And yet, 
if Mr. Jefferson's reasoning were correct, they ought to be much 
milder : in fact, it follows from his reasoning, that the authority 
which the father is called on to exercise over his children, must be 
seriously detrimental; and yet we know that this is not the case; 
that on the contrary, there is nothing which so much humanizes 
and softens the heart, as this very authority; and there are none, 
even among those who have no children themselves, so disposed to 
pardon the follies and indiscretion of youth, as those who have 
seen most of them, and suffered greatest annoyance. There may 
be many cruel relentless masters, and there are unkind and cruel 
fathers too; but both the one and the other make all those around 
them shudder with horror. We are disposed to think that their ex- 
ample in society tends rather to strengthen, than weaken the prin- 
ciple of benevolence and humanity. 

Let us now look a moment to the slave, and contemplate his po- 
sition. Mr. Jefferson has described him as hating, rather than lov- 
ing his master, and as losing, too, all that amor patrice which cha- 
racterizes the true patriot. We assert again, that Mr. Jefferson is 
not borne out by the fact. We are well convinced that there is no- 

* A similar remark is made by Ramsay, and confirmed by Bryan Edwards, in re- 
gard to the West Indies. " Adventurers from Europe are universally more cruel and 
morose towards the slaves, than the Creole or native West Indian." (Hist of W, I. 
Book 4, Chap. 1.) 

15 



110 

thing but the mere relations of husband and wife, parent and child, 
brother and sister, which produce a closer tie, than the relation of 
master and servant.* We have no hesitation in affirming, that 
throughout the whole slave holding country, the slaves of a good 
master, are his warmest, most constant, and most devoted friends ; 
they have been accustomed to look up to him as their supporter, 
director and defender. Every one acquainted with southern slaves, 
knows that the slave rejoices in the elevation and prosperity of his 
master ; and the heart of no one is more gladdened at the success- 
ful debut of young master or miss on the great theatre of the 
world, than that of either the young slave who has grown up with 
them, and shared in all their sports, and even partaken of all their 
delicacies — or the aged one who has looked on and watched them 
from birth to manhood, with the kindest and most affectionate soli- 
citude, and has ever met from them, all the kind treatment and gen- 
erous sympathies of feeling tender hearts. Judge Smith in his able 
speech on Foote's Resolutions in the Senate said, in an emergency 
he would rely upon his own slaves for his defence — he would put 
arms into their hands, and he had no doubt they would defend him 
faithfully. In the late Southampton insurrection, we know that 
many actually convened their slaves, and armed them for defence, 
although slaves were here the cause of the evil which was to be 
repelled. We have often heard slaveholders affirm, that they would 
sooner rely upon their slaves for fidelity and attachment in the hour 
of danger and severe trial, than on any other equal number of indivi- 
duals ; and we all know, that the son or daughter, who has been long 
absent from the paternal roof, on returning to the scenes of infancy, 
never fails to be greeted with the kindest welcome and the most sin- 
cere and heartfelt congratulations from those slaves among whom 
he has been reared to manhood. 

Gilbert Stuart, in his History of Society, says that the time when 
the vassal of the feudal ages was most faithful, most obedient, and 
most interested in the welfare of his master, was precisely when 
his dependence was most complete, and when, consequently, he re- 
lied upon his lord for every thing. When the feudal tenure was 
gradually changing, and the law was interposing between landlord 
and tenant, the close tie between them began to dissolve, and with 
it, the kindness on one side, and the affection and gratitude on the 
other, waned and vanished. From all this, we are forced to draw one 
important inference — that it is dangerous to the happiness and well 
being of the slave, for either the imprudent philanthropist to attempt 
to interpose too often, or the rash legislator to obtrude his regulat- 
ing edicts, between master and slave. They only serve to render 
the slave more intractable and unhappy, and the master more cruel 
and unrelenting. The British West India Islands form at this mo- 
ment a most striking illustration of this remark ; the law has inter- 

* There are hundreds of slaves in the Southern country, who will desert parents, wives 
or husbands, brother and sister, to follow a kind master — so strong is the tie of master 
ajid slave. 



Ill 

posed between master and servant, and the slave has been made idle 
and insolent, and consequently worthless ; a vague and irrational- 
idea of liberty has been infused into his mind; he has become rest- 
less and unhappy ; and the planters are deserting the islands, because 
the very law itself, is corrupting and ruining the slave. • The price 
of slaves it is said, since the passage of those laws, has fallen 50 
per cent, and the rapid declension of the number of slaves proves 
that their condition has been greatly injured, instead of benefitted. 
This instance is fraught with deep instruction to the legislator, and 
should make him pause. And we call upon the reverend clergy, 
whose examples should be pure, and whose precepts should be 
fraught with wisdom and prudence, to beware, lest in their zeal 
for the black, they suffer too much of the passion and prejudice of 
the human heart to mingle with those pure principles by which 
they should be governed. Let them beware of "what spirit they 
are of." "No sound," says Burke, "ought to be heard in the 
church, but the healing voice of Christian charity. Those who 
quit their proper character, to assume what does not belong to 
them, are for the most part ignorant of the character they assume, 
and of the character they leave off. Wholly unacquainted with the 
world in which they are so fond of meddling, and inexperienced 
in all its affairs, on which they pronounce with so much confidence, 
they have nothing of politics but the passions they excite. Surely 
the church is a place where one day's truce ought to be allowed to 
the dissensions and animosities of mankind." 

In the debate in the Virginia Legislature, no speaker insinuated 
even, we believe, that the slaves in Virginia were not treated kind- 
ly; and all, too, agreed that they were most abundantly fed ; and 
we have no doubt but that they form the happiest portion of 
our society. A merrier being does not exist on the face of the 
globe, than the negro slave of the United States. Even Captain 
Hall himself, with his thick " crust of prejudice," is obliged to 
allow that they are happy and contented, and the master much less 
cruel than is generally imagined. Why then, since the slave is 
happy, and happiness is the great object of all animated creation, 
should we endeavor to disturb his contentment by infusing into 
his mind a vain and indefinite desire for liberty — a something which 
he cannot comprehend, and which must inevitably dry up the very 
sources of his happiness. 

The fact is that all of us, and the great author of the Declara- 
tion of Independence is like us in this respect, are too prone to 
judge of the happiness of others by^ ourselves — we make self the 
standard, and endeavor to draw down every one to its dimensions — 
not recollecting that the benevolence of the omnipotent has made 
the mind of man pliant and susceptible of happiness in almost 
every situation and employment. We might rather die than be 
the obscure slave that waits at our back, — our education and our 
habits, generate an ambition that makes us aspire at something 
loftier — and disposes us to look upon the slave as unsusceptible of 



112 

nappiness in his humble sphere, when he may indeed be much 
happier than we are, and have his ambition too, — but his ambition 
is to excel all his fellow slaves in the performance of his servile du- 
ties — to please and to gratify his master — and to command the 
praise of all who witness his exertions. Let the wily philan- 
thropist, but come and whisper into the ears of such a slave, that 
his situation is degrading and his lot a miserable one — let him but 
light up the dungeon in which he persuades the slave that he is 
caged — and that moment, like the serpent that entered the garden 
of Eden, he destroys his happiness and his usefulness. We can- 
not, therefore, agree with Mr. Jefferson, in the opinion that slavery 
makes the unfeeling tyrant and the ungrateful dependant; and in 
regard to Virginia especially, we are almost disposed, judging 
from the official returns of crimes and convictions, to assert, with 
a statesman who has descended to his tomb, (Mr. Giles,) " that 
the whole population of Virginia, consisting of three castes — of 
free white, free colored, and slave colored population, is the 
soundest and most moral of any other, according to numbers, 
in the whole world, as far as is known to me." 

3dly. It has been contended that slavery is unfavorable to a re- 
publican spirit : but the whole history of the world proves that this 
is far from being the case. In the ancient republics of Greece and 
Rome, where the spirit of liberty glowed with most intensity, the 
slaves were more numerous than the freemen. Aristotle, and the 
great men of antiquity, believed slavery necessary to keep alive 
the spirit of freedom. In Sparta, the freeman was even forbidden 
to perform the offices of slaves, lest he might lose the spirit of inde- 
pendence. In modern times, too, liberty has always been more ar- 
dently desired by slave holding communities. "Such," says Burke, 
"were our Gothic ancestors; such, in our days, were the Poles; 
and such will be all masters of slaves who are not slaves them- 
selves."— 4 ' These people of the southern (American) colonies are 
much more strongly, and with a higher and more stubborn spirit, 
attached to liberty, than those ot the northward." And from the 
time of Burke down to the present day, the southern states have 
always borne this same honorable distinction. Burke says, " it is 
because freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of 
rank and privilege." Another, and perhaps more efficient cause 
of this, is the perfect spirit of equality so prevalent among the 
whites of all the slave holding states. Jack Cade, the Irish re- 
former, wished all mankind to be brought to one common level. 
We believe slavery, in the United States, has accomplished this, 
in regard to the whites, as nearly as can be expected or even desired 
in this world. The menial and low offices being all performed by 
the blacks, there is at once taken away the greatest cause erf dis- 
tinction and separation of the ranks of society. The man to the 
north will not shake hands familiarly with his servant, and converse, 
and laugh, and dine with him, no matter bow honest and respecta- 
ble he may be. But go to the south, and you will find that no 



113 

white man feels such inferiority of rank as to be unworthy of as- 
sociation with those around him. Color alone is here the badge of 
distinction, the true mark of aristocracy, and all who are white are 
equal in spite of the variety of occupation. The same thing is 
observed in the West Indies. <; Of the character common to the 
white resident of the West Indies, it appears to me," says Ed- 
wards, " that the leading feature is an independent spirit, and a 
display of conscious equality throughout all ranks and conditions* 
The poorest white person seems to consider himself nearly on a 
level with the richest; and emboldened by this idea, approaches his 
employer with extended hand, and a freedom, which, in the coun- 
tries of Europe, is seldom displayed by men in the lower orders 
of life towards their superiors." And it is this spirit of equality 
which is both the generator and preserver of the genuiue spirit of 
liberty. 

4thly. Insecurity of the whites, arising from plots, insurrections, 
fyc, among the blacks. This is the evil, after all, let us say what 
we will r which really operates most powerfully upon the schemers 
and emancipating philanthropists of those sections where slaves 
constitute the principal property. Now, if we have shown, as we 
trust we have, that the scheme of deportation is utterly impracti- 
cable, and that emancipation, with permission to remain, will pro- 
duce all these horrors in still greater degree, it follows that this evil 
of slavery, allowing it to exist in all its latitude, would be no argu- 
ment for legislative action, and therefore we might well rest con- 
tented with this issue ; but as we are anxious to exhibit this whole 
subject in its true bearings, and as we do believe that this evil has 
been most strangely and causelessly exaggerated, we have deter- 
mined to examine it a moment, and point out its true extent. It 
seems to us, that those who insist most upon it, commit the enor- 
mous error of looking upon every slave in the whole slave-holding 
country as actuated by the most deadly enmity to the whites, and 
possessing all that reckless, fiendish temper, which would lead him 
to murder and assassinate the moment the opportunity occurs. — 
This is far from being true ; the slave, as we have already said, 
generally loves the master and his family;* and few indeed there 
are, who can coldly plot the murder of men, women, and children ; 
and if they do, there are fewer still who can have the villainy to 
execute. We can sit down and imagine that all the negroes in the 
south have conspired to rise on a certain night, and murder all 
the whites in their respective families; we may suppose the secret 
to be kept, and that they have the physical power to exterminate; 
and yet, we say the whole is morally impossible. No insurrection 
of this kind can ever occur where the blacks are as much civilized 
as they are in the United States. Savages and Koromantyn slaves 
can commit such deeds, because their whole life and education 
have prepared them, and they glory in the achievement ; but the 

*We scarcely know a single family, in which the slaves, especially the domestics, 
do not manifest the most unfeigned grief at the deaths which occur among the whites. 



114 

tiegro of the United States has imbibed the principles, the senti- 
ments, and feelings of the while; in one word, he is civilized — at 
least, comparatively ; his whole education and course of life are at 
war with such fell deeds, Nothing, then, but the most subtle and 
poisonous principles, sedulously infused into his mind, can break 
his allegiance, and transform him into the midnight murderer. — 
Any man who will attend to the history of the Southampton mas- 
sacre, must at once see, that the cause of even the partial success 
of the insurrectionists, was the very circumstance that there was no 
extensive plot, and that Nat, a demented fanatic, was under the im- 
pression that heaven had enjoined him to liberate the blacks, and 
had made its manifestations by loud noises in the air, an eclipse, 
and by the greenness of the sun. It was these signs which deter- 
mined him, and ignorance and superstition, together with implicit 
confidence in Nat, determined a few others, and thus the bloody 
work began. So fearfully and reluctantly did they proceed to the 
execution, that we have no doubt but that if Travis, the first 
attacked, could have waked whilst they were getting into his house, 
or could have shot down Nat or Will, the rest would have fled, 
and the affair would have terminated in limine. 

We have read with great attention the history of the insurrec- 
tions in St. Domingo, and have no hesitation in affirming, that to 
the reflecting mind, that whole history affords the most complete 
evidence of the difficulty and almost impossibility of succeeding in 
these plots, even under the most favorable circumstances. It would 
almost have been a moral miracle, if that revolution had not suc- 
ceeded. The French revolution had kindled a blaze throughout 
the world. The society of the Amis des JVoirs, (the friends of the 
blacks,) in Paris, had educated and disciplined many of the mulat- 
toes, who were almost as numerous as the whites in the island. — 
The National Assembly, in its mad career, declared these mulat- 
toes to be equal in all respects to the whites, and gave them the 
same privileges and immunities as the whites. During the ten 
years, too, immediately preceding the revolution, more than 200,000 
negroes were imported into the island from Africa. It is a well 
known fact, that newly imported negroes, are always greatly more 
dangerous than those born among us ; and of those importations a 
very large proportion consisted of Koromantyn slaves, from the 
Gold Coast, who have all the savage ferocity of the North Ameri- 
can Indian.* And lastly, the whites themselves, disunited and 
strangely inharmonious, would nevertheless have suppressed the 
insurrections, although the blacks and mulattoes were nearly fif- 
teen-fold their numbers, if it had not been for the constant and too 
fatal interference of France. The great sin of that revolution rests 

*It was the Koromantyns who brought about the insurrection in Jamaica in 1760. — 
They are a very hardy race ; and the Dutch, who area calculating, money-making peo- 
ple, and withal the most cruel masters in the world, have generally preferred these 
slaves, because they might he forced to do most work ; but the consequence of their ava- 
rice has been, that they have been more cursed with insurrections than any other peo- 
ple in the West Indies. 



115 

on the National Assembly, and should be an awful warning to 
every legislature to beware of too much tampering with so deli- 
cate and difficult a subject as an alteration of the fundamental rela- 
tions of society. 

But there is another cause which will render the success of the 
blacks for ever impossible in the south, as long as slavery exists. 
It is, that, in modern times especially, wealth and talent must ever 
rule over mere physical force. During the feudal ages, the vas- 
sals never made a settled concerted attempt to throw off the yoke 
of the lord or landed proprietor ; and the true reason was, they had 
neither property nor talent, and consequently the power, under 
these circumstances, could be placed no where else than in the 
hands of the lords ; but so soon as the tiers etat arose, with c6m- 
merce and manufactures, there was something to struggle for, and 
the crise des revolutions, (the crisis of revolutions.) was the conse- 
quence. No connected, persevering, and well concerted move- 
ment, ever takes place, in modern times, unless for the sake of 
property. Now, the property, talent, concert, and we may add 
habit, are all with the whites, and render their continued superi- 
ority absolutely certain, if they are not meddled with, no matter 
what may be the disproportion of numbers. We look upon these 
insurrections in the same light that we do the murders and rob- 
beries which occur in society, and in a slave-holding state, they 
are a sort of substitute for the latter ; the robbers and murder- 
ers in what are called free states, are generally the poor and 
needy, who rob for money ; negro slaves rarely murder or rob for 
this purpose; they have no inducement to do it — the fact is, the 
whole capital of the south is pledged for their maintenance. The 
present Chief Magistrate of Virginia has informed us that he 
has never known of but one single case in Virginia where negroes 
murdered for the sake of money. Now, there is no doubt but that 
the common robberies and murders for money, take off, in the ag- 
gregate, more men, and destroy more property, than insurrections 
among the slaves ; the former are the result of fixed causes eter- 
nally at work, the latter of occasional causes which are rarely, 
very rarely, in action. Accordingly, if we should look to the 
whole of our southern population, and compare the average num- 
ber of deaths, by the hands of assassins, with the numbers else- 
where, we would be astonished to find them perhaps as few or 
fewer than in any other population of equal amount on the globe. 
In the city of London there is, upon an average, a murder or a 
house-breaking and robbery every night in the year, which is 
greater than the amount of deaths by murders, insurrections, &,c, 
in our whole southern country; and yet the inhabitant of London 
walks the streets and sleeps in perfect confidence, and why should 
not we who are in fact in much less danger?* These calamities 

*We wish that accurate accounts could be published of all the deaths which had 
occurred from insurrections in the United States, West Indies, and South America, 
since the establishment of slavery ; and that these could be compared to the whole 
population that have lived since that epoch, and the number of deaths which occur in 



116 

In London, very properly give rise to the establishment of a po- 
lice, and the adoption of precautionary measures ; and so they 
should in our country, and every where else. And if the Virginia 
Legislature had turned its attention more to this subject during its 
last session, we think, with all due deference, it would have re- 
dounded much more to the advantage of the state than the intem- 
perate discussion which was gotten up. 

But it is agreed on almost all hands, that the danger of insurrec- 
tion now is not very great; but a time must arrive, it is supposed 
by many^ when the dangers will infinitely increase, and either the 
one or the other race must necessarily be exterminated. " I do 
believe," said one in the Virginia Legislature, " and such must be 
the'judgment of every reflecting man, that unless something is 
done in time to obviate it, the day must arrive when scenes 
oY inconceivable horror must inevitably occur, and one of these 
two races of human beings will have their throats cut by the 
other." Another gentleman anticipates the dark day when a 
negro legislature would be in session in the capital of the Old 
Dominion! Mr. Clay, too, seems to be full of gloomy antici- 
pations of the future. In his colonization speech of 1S30, he says, 
"Already the slaves may be estimated at two millions, and the free 
population at ten; the former being in the proportion of one to five 
of the latter. Their respective numbers will probably double in pe- 
riods of thirty-three years. In the year 1863, the number of the 
whites will probably be twenty, and of the blacks four millions. — 
In 1896, fortj' and eight; and in the year 1929, about a century, 
eighty and sixteen millions. What mind is sufficiently extensive 
in its reach — what nerve sufficiently strong — to contemplate this 
vast and progressive augmentation, without an awful foreboding 
of the tremendous consequences !" If these anticipations are true, 
then may we, in despair, quietly sit down by the waters of Baby- 
lon, and weep over our lot, for we can never remove the blacks. — 
"Hceret lateri lethalis arundo." 

But we have none of these awful forebodings. We do not look 
to the time when the throats of one race must be cut by the other; 
on the contrary, we have no hesitation in affirming, and we think 
we can prove it too, that in 1929, taking Mr. Clay's own statis- 
tics, we shall be much more secure from plots and insurrections, 
than we are at this moment. It is an undeniable fact, that in the 
increase of population, the power and security of the dominant 
party always increase much more than in proportion to the relative 
augmentation of their numbers. One hundred men can much 
more easily keep an equal number in subjection than fifty, and a 
million would rule a million more certainly and securely than any 
lesser number. The dominant can only be overturned by concert 
and harmony among the subject party, and the greater the relative 

other equal amounts of population, from popular sedition, robberies, &c., and we would 
be astonished to see what little cause we have for the slightest apprehension on this 
score. 



117 

numbers on both sides, the more impossible does this concert on 
the part of the subjected become. A police, too, of the same re- 
lative numbers, is much more efficient amid a numerous population, 
than a sparse one. We will illustrate by example, which cannot 
fail to strike even the most sceptical. Mr. Gibbon supposes that 
the hundredth man in any community, is as much as the people 
can afford to keep in pay for the purposes of a police. Now sup- 
pose the community be only one hundred, then one man alone is 
the police. Is it not evident that the ninety-nine will be able at 
any moment to destroy him, and throw off all restraint? Suppose 
the community one thousand, then ten will form the police, which 
would have a rather better chance of keeping up order among the 
nine hundred and ninety, than the one in the one hundred, but still 
this would be insufficient. Let your community swell to one mil- 
lion, and ten thousand would then form the police, and ten thou- 
sand troops will strike terror in any city on the face of the globe. 
Lord Wellington lately asserted in the British Parliament, that 
Paris, containing a population of a million of souls, (the most bois- 
terous and ungovernable,) never required, before the reign of 
Louis Philip, more than forty-five hundred troops to keep it in the 
most perfect subjection. It is this very principle which ex- 
plains the fact so frequently noticed, that revolutions are effected 
much more readily in small states than in large ones. The little 
republics of Greece underwent revolutions almost every month — 
the dominant party was never safe for a moment. The little states 
of modern Italy have undergone more changes and revolutions than 
all the rest of Europe together, and if foreign influence were with- 
drawn, almost every ship from Europe, even now, would bring the 
news of some new revolution in those states. If the standing army 
will remain firm to the government, a successful revolution in most 
large empires, as France, Germany, and Russia, is almost impos- 
sible. The two revolutions in France, have been successful, in 
consequence of the disaffection of the troops, who have joined the 
popular party. 

Let us apply these principles to our own case ; and for the sake 
of simplicity we will take a county of a mixed population of twenty 
thousand, viz: blacks ten thousand, and whites as many: — the 
patrol which they can keep out, would, according to our rule, be 
two hundred — double both sides, and the patrol would be four 
hundred, quadruple and it would be eight hundred — now a patrol 
of eight hundred would be much more efficient than the two hun- 
dred, though they were, relatively to the numbers kept in order, 
exactly the same ; and the same principle is applicable to the pro- 
gress of population in the whole slave-holding country. In 1929, 
our police will be much more efficient than now, if the two castes 
preserve any thing like the same relative numbers. We believe it 
would be better for the whites that the negro population should 
double, if they added only one half more to their numbers, than that 
they should remain stationary on both sides, Hence an insupera- 
16 



318 

ble objection to all* these deporting schemes — -they cannot dimi- 
nish the relative proportion of the blacks to the whites, but on the 
contrary increase it, while they check the augmentation of the po- 
pulation as a whole, and consequently lessen the security of the 
dominant party. We do not fear the increase of the blacks, for 
that very increase adds to the wealth of society, and enables it to 
keep up the police. This is the true secret of the security of the 
West Indies and Brazil. In Jamaica, the blacks are eight fold the 
whites; throughout the extensive empire of Brazil, they are three 
to one. Political prophets have been prophesying for fifty years 
past, that the day would speedily arrive, when all the West Indies 
would be in possession of the negroes ; and the danger is no greater 
now, than it was at the commencement. We sincerely believe the 
blacks never will get possession, unless through the mad interfe- 
rence of the mother countries, and even then we are doubtful whe- 
ther they can conquer the whites. Now, we have nowhere in the 
United States, the immense disproportion between the two races 
observed in Brazil and the West Indies, and we are not like to have 
it in all time to come. We have no data, therefore, upon which 
to anticipate that dreadful crisis, which so torments the imagina- 
tion of some. The little islands of the West Indies, if such crisis 
were fated frequently to arrive, ought to exhibit one continued se- 
ries of massacres and insurrections ; for their blacks are relatively, 
much more numerous than with us, and a small extent of territory 
is, upon the principle just explained, much more favorable to suc- 
cessful revolution than a large one. Are we not then, mostunphi- 
losophically and needlessly tormenting ourselves with the idea of 
insurrection. Seeing that the West India Islands, even, so much 
worse off than ourselves in this particular, are nevertheless, but 
rarely disturbed. It is well known that where the range is suffi- 
ciently extensive, and the elements sufficiently numerous, the calcu- 
lation of chances maybe reduced to almost a mathematical certain- 
ty; thus, although you cannot say what will be the profit or loss 
of a particular gambling house in Paris on any one night, yet you 
may, with great accuracy, calculate upon the profits for a whole 
year, and with still greater accuracy, for any longer period, as ten, 
twenty, or one hundred years. Upon the same principle, we spe- 
culate with much greater certainty upon masses of individuals, 
than upon single persons. Hence bills of mortality, registers of 
births, marriages, crimes, &c, become very important statistics, 
when calculated upon large masses of population, although they 
prove nothing in families or among individuals. Proceeding upon 
this principle, we cannot fail to derive the greatest consolation 
from the fact, that although slavery has existed in our country for 
the last two hundred years, there have been but three atttempts at 
insurrection — one in Virginia, one in South Carolina, and, we 
believe, one in Louisiana — and the loss of lives from this cause has 
not amounted to one hundred persons, in all. We may then calculate 
in the next two hundred years, upon a similar result, which is 



119 

incomparably smaller than the number which will be taken off in 
free states by murders for. the sake of money. 

But our population returns have been looked to, and it has 
been affirmed that they show a steady increase of blacks, which 
will finally carry them in all proportion beyond the whites, and 
that this will be particularly the case in Eastern Virginia. We 
have no fears on this score either : even if it were true, the danger 
would not be very great. With the increase of the blacks, we 
can afford to enlarge the police; and we will venture to say, that 
with the hundredth man at our disposal, and faithful to us, we 
would keep down insurrection in any large country on the face of 
the globe. But the speakers in the Virginia Legislature, in our 
humble opinion, made most unwarrantable inferences from the 
census returns. They took a period between 1790 and 1830, and 
judged exclusively from the aggregate results of that whole time. 
Mr. Brown pointed out their fallacy, and showed that there was 
but a small portion of the period in which the blacks had rapidly 
gained upon the whites, but during the residue they were most 
rapidly losing their high relative increase, and would, perhaps, in 
1840, exhibit an augmentation less than the whites. But let us 
go a little back— in 1740, the slaves in South Carolina, says Mar- 
shall, were three times the whites, the danger from them was greater 
then than it ever has been since, or ever will be again. There 
was an insurrection in that year, which was put down with the ut- 
most ease, although instigated and aided by the Spaniards. The 
slaves in Virginia, at the same period, were much more numerous 
than the whites. Now suppose some of those peepers into futurity 
could have been present, would they not have predicted the speedy 
arrival of the time when the blacks, running ahead of the whites 
in numbers, would have destroyed their security? In 1763, the 
black population of Virginia was 100,000, and the white 70,000. 
In South Carolina, the blacks were 90,000, and the whites 
40,000. Comparing these with the returns of 1740, our prophets, 
could thej' have lived so long, might have found some consolation 
in the greater relative increase of the whites. Again, when we 
see in 1830, that the. blacks in both states have fallen in numbers 
below the whites, our prophets, were they alive, might truly be pro- 
nounced false. (See Holmes's Annals, and Marshall's Life of 
Washington, on this subject.) 

But we will now proceed to examine more closely, the melan- 
choly inference which has been drawn from the relative advances 
of the white and black populations in Virginia, during the last 
forty years, and to show upon principles of an undeniable charac- 
ter, that it is wholly gratuitous, without any well founded data 
from which to deduce it. During the whole period of forty years, 
Virginia has been pouring forth emigrants more rapidly to the 
west than any other state in the union ; she has indeed been "the 
fruitful mother of empires." This emigration has been caused by 
the cheap fertile and unoccupied lands of the west, and by the op- 



120 

pressive action of the Federal Government, on the southern agri- 
cultural states. This emigration has operated most injuriously 
upon Virginia interests, and has had a powerful tendency to check 
the increase of the whites, without producing any thing like an 
equal effect on the blacks. A.s this is a subject of very great im- 
portance, we shall endeavor briefly to explain it. We have already 
said in the progress of this discussion, that the emigration of a class 
of society, will not injure the community, or check materially the 
increase of.population, where a full equivalent is left in the stead of 
the emigrant. The largest portion of slaves sent out of Virginia, is 
sent through the operation of our internal slave trade; a full equi- 
valent being thus left in the place of the slave, this emigration be- 
comes an advantage to the state, and does not check the black po- 
pulation as much as at first view we should imagine, because it 
furnishes every inducement to the master to attend to his negroes, 
to encourage building, and to cause the greatest possible number 
to be raised, and thus it affords a powerful stimulus to the spring of 
black population, which in a great measure counteracts the emi- 
gration. But when we come to examine into the efflux of the 
white population from our state to the west, we find a totally differ- 
ent case presented to our view. The emigration of the white man 
not only takes a laborer from the state, but capital likewise; so 
far, therefore, in this case, from the state gaining an equivalent for 
the emigrant, she not only loses him, but his capital also, and thus 
she is impoverished, or at least advances more slowly in the acqui- 
sition of wealth from a double cause — from the loss of both persons 
and capital. 

Let us examine a little more fully, the whole extent of the loss 
which the state thus suffers, and we shall find it immeasurably be- 
yond our hasty conceptions. In the first place, we cannot properly 
estimate the loss of labor by the number of emigrants, for we must 
recollect that the great majority of emigrants from among the 
whites, consists of males, who form decidedly the more productive 
sex; and these males are generally between eighteen and thirty, 
precisely that period of life, at which the laborer is most produc- 
tive, and has ceased to be a mere consumes. Up to this period, 
we are generally an expense to those who rear us, and when we 
leave the state at this time, it loses not only the individuals, but all 
the capital, together with interest on that capital, which have been 
spent in rearing and educating. Thus, a father, perhaps, has been 
for years spending the whole profits of his estate in educating his 
sons, and so soon as that education is completed, they roam off to 
the west. The society of Virginia then loses both the individuals 
and the capital which had been spent upon them, without an equi- 
valent. Perhaps a young man, thus educated, if he were to remain 
among us, could make by the exercise of his talents, two or three 
thousand dollars per annum. This is more than ten field laborers 
could make by their labor, and consequently, the loss of one such 
man as above described, is equal to the loss of ten common labo- 



in 

rers in a politico-economical view, and perhaps to more than one 
hundred in a moral point of view. We have made some exertion 
to ascertain the average annual emigration of whites from the 
state, but without success ; supposing the number to be three thou- 
sand, and we have no doubt that it is far less than the true amount, 
we would err but little in saying that these three thousand would 
be at least equal to twelve thousand taken from among mere labo- 
rers. 

Now what is the effect of this great abstraction from Virginia, 
of productive citizens and capital ? Why, most assuredly, to pre- 
vent the accumulation of wealth, and the increase of white popu- 
lation. You will find, on examination, that this emigration robs 
the land of its fair proportion of capital and labor, and thus in- 
jures our agriculture, and entirely prevents all improvement of 
our lands ; it sweeps off from the state the circulating capital as 
soon as formed, and leaves scarcely any thing of value behind, but 
lands , negroes, and houses. All this has a tendency to check the 
increase of the whites, not only by the direct lessening of the 
population by emigration, but much more by paralyzing the spring 
of white population. The increase of the blacks, under these cir- 
cumstances, becomes much more rapid, and has served in part to 
counteract the deleterious effects springing from the emigration of 
whites. In this point of view, the augmentation of our black po- 
pulation should be a source of consolation, instead of alarm and 
despondency. Let us now see whether this state of things is for- 
ever to be continued, or whether there be not some cheering signs 
in the political horizon, portending a better and a brighter day for 
the Old Dominion, in the vista of the future. There are two 
causes evidently calculated to check this emigration of capital and 
citizens from Virginia, and to insure a more rapid increase of her 
white population, and augmentation of her wealth. These are, 
first, the filling up of our vacant territory with population ; and 
second, the completion of such a system of internal improvement 
in Virginia, as will administer to the multiplied wants of her peo- 
ple, and take off the surplus produce of the interior of the state 
to the great market of the world — the first dependent on time, and 
the second on the energy and enterprise of the state. 

1st. It is very evident, that as population advances and over- 
flows our western territory, all the good lands will be gradually 
occupied ; a longer and a longer barrier of cultivated and popu- 
lous region will be interposed between Virginia and cheap western 
lands, and with this onward march of population and civilization, 
emigration from the old states must gradually cease. The whole 
population of the union is now 13,000,000 ; in less than fifty years 
from this time, (a short period in the history of nations,) we shall 
have 50,000,000 of souls — our people will then cease to be migra- 
tory, and assume that stability every where witnessed in the older 
countries of the world; and this result will be greatly accelerated, 
if the southern country shall, in the meantime, be relieved from 



122 

the blighting oppression of federal exactions. As this state of 
things arrives, the whites in Virginia will be found to increase more 
rapidly than the blacks ; and thus, that most alarming inference 
drawn from disproportionate increase of the two castes, for the last 
forty years, will be shewn in the lapse of time, to be a false vision, 
engendered by /ear, and unsupported by philosophy and fact. — 
We already perceive that the whites, in the ratio of their increase, 
have been, for the last twenty years, gradually gaining on the 
blacks; thus, in 1790, east of the Blue Ridge, the whites were 
314,523, and the slaves 277,449 — in 1830, the proportions were, 
in the same district, whites 375,935, slaves 416,529 ; gain of the 
blacks on the whites, 77,398. " But when did this gain take place f 
Between 1800 and 1810, the rate of increase of the whiles Was only 
seven-tenths of one per cent., while that of the slaves was ele- 
ven per cent. From 1810 to 1820, the ratio of the increase of 
whites was three per cent., and that of slaves was six per cent. — 
From 1820 to 1830, the ratio of increase of the whites was near 
eight per cent., and that of the slaves not quite nine per cent.;" and 
when we take into consideration the whole population of our state, 
east and west of the Blue Ridge, we find that the whites have been 
gaining at the rate of 15 per cent, for the last ten years, while the 
slaves have been increasing at the rate of ten per cent, only — and 
thus is it we find that those very statistics which are adduced by 
the abolitionists, to alarm the timid, and operate on the imagina- 
tion of the unreflecting, turn out, upon closer scrutiny, to be of the 
most cheering and consolatory character, clearly demonstrating, 
upon the very principle of calculation assumed by the abolitionists 
themselves, that the condition of the whites is rapidly altering for 
the better, with the lapse of time. 

We will now proceed to point out the operation of the second 
cause, above mentioned — a judicious system of internal improve- 
ment in checking emigration to the west. It is well known, that in 
proportion to the facilities which are offered to commerce, and the 
ease and cheapness with which the products of land may be con- 
veyed to market, so do the profits of agriculture rise, and with 
them, a general prosperity is diffused over the whole country — new 
products are raised upon the soil — new occupations spring up — old 
ones are enlarged and rendered more productive — a wider field is 
opened for the display of the energies of both mind and body, and 
the rising generation are bound down to the scenes of their infan- 
cy, and the homes of their fathers: not by the tie pf affection and 
association alone, but by the still stronger ligament of interest. — 
Sons who have spent in their education all the profits which a kind 
father has earned by hard industry on the soil, will not now be 
disposed to wring from his kindness the small patrimony which he 
may possess, and move off with the proceeds to the west ; but ge- 
neral prosperity will induce them to remain in the land which gave 
them birth, to add to the wealth and the population of the state, 
and to be a comfort and a solace to their aged parents in the de- 



123 

ciine of their days. We do indeed consider internal improvement 
in Virginia, the great panacea, by which most of the ills which 
now weigh down the state may be removed, and health and acti- 
vity communicated to every department of industry. 

We ard happy to see that the Legislature of Virginia, during 
the last session, incorporated a company to complete the James 
river and Kanawha improvements, and that the city of Richmond 
has so liberally contributed by her subscriptions, as to render the 
project almost certain of success. It is this great improvement 
which is destined to revolutionize the financial condition of the 
Old Dominion, and speed her on more rapidly in wealth and num- 
bers, than she has ever advanced before : the snail pace at which 
she has hitherto been crawling, is destined to be converted into the 
giant's stride, and this very circumstance, of itself, will defeat all 
the gloomy predictions about the blacks. The first effect of the 
improvement will be to raise up larger towns in the eastern portion 
of the state.* Besides other manifold advantages which these 
towns will diffuse, they will have a tendency to draw into them 
the capital and free laborers of the north, and in this way to de- 
stroy the proportion of the blacks. Baltimore is now an exem- 
plification of this fact, which by its mighty agency is fast making 
Maryland a non-slave-holding state. Again, the rise of cities in 
the lower part of Virginia, and increased density of population, 
will render the division of labor more complete, break down the 
large farms into small ones, and substitute, in a great measure, 
the garden fog the plantation cultivation : consequently, less slave 
and more free labor will be requisite, and in due time the aboli- 
tionists will find this most lucrative system working to their heart's 
content, increasing the prosperity of Virginia, and diminishing 
the evils of slavery, without those impoverishing effects which all 
other schemes must necessarily have. 

Upon the west particularly, the beneficial effects of a judicious 
system of improvement, will be almost incalculable. At this mo- 
ment the emigration from the western and middle counties of 
Virginia, is almost as great as from the eastern. The western por- 
tion of Virginia, in consequence of its great distance from market, 
and the wretched condition of the various communications leading 
through the state, is necessarily a grazing country. A grazing 
country requires but a very sparse population, and consequently, 
but small additions to our western population renders it redun- 
dant, and there is an immediate tendency in the supernumeraries to 

* Doct. Cooper of Columbia, whose capacious mind has explored every department 
of knowledge, and whose ample experience through a long life, has furnished him with 
the most luminous illustrations and facts ; has most admirably pointed out in the 25th 
chapter of his Political Economy, the great advantages of large towns, and Ave have no 
doubt but that the absence of large towns in Virginia, has been one cause of the infe- 
riority of Virginia, to some of the northern states, in energy and industry. We are 
sorry that our limits will not allow us to insert a portion of the chapter on the advan- 
tages of large towns, just referred to, and that we must content ourselves with a warm 
recommendation of its perusal. 



124 

emigration. A gentleman from the west, lately informed us that in 
his immediate neighborhood, he knew of seventy persons who had 
moved off and many others were exceedingly anxious to go, but 
were detained because they could not dispose of their lands. The 
remedy for all this, is as glaring as the light of midday syn. Give 
to this portion of the state, the communications which they require. 
Let our great central improvement be completed, and immediately 
the grazing system will be converted into the grain growing, and 
the very first effect of sticking the plough into the soil, which has 
hitherto grown grass alone, will be an increased demand for labor, 
which will at once check the tide of emigration, so rapidly flowing 
on to the distant west — and agricultural profits will rise at once 50 
or 100 per cent. One of the most closely observant citizens of 
the west, has informed us, that lie can most conclusively show, 
that if flour would command $ 3 00 a barrel on the farms in his 
neighborhood, the profits of raising grain would be double those 
of the grazing system. Here, then, is the true ground for unity 
of action, between the eastern and western portions of Virginia: 
let them steadily unite in pushing forward a vigorous system of in- 
ternal improvement. Under what a miserably short sighted and 
suicidal policy must the west act then, if it seriously urges the 
emancipation of our slaves* The very first effect of it will be, to stop 
forever, the great central improvement. Where is the state to get 
the money from, to cut canals and rail roads through her ter- 
ritory, and send out thousands besides to Africa? The very agi- 
tation of this most romantic and impracticable scheme, is calcu- 
lated to nip inthe bud, our whole system of internal improvements; 
and we can but hope that the intelligence of the west, will soon 
discover how very hostile this whole abolition scheme is to all its 
true interests, and will curb in their wild career, by the right of in- 
struction, those who would uproot the very foundations of society, 
if their schemes should ever be carried out to their full extent. 
We venture to predict, that, if these abolition schemes shall ever 
be seriously studied in Virginia, that there will be but one voice — 
but one opinion concerning them, throughout the state— that they 
are at war with the true interests of Virginia, in every quarter — in 
the west as well as the east. We hope then most sincerely, that 
those gentlemen who have been so perseveringly engaged in 
urging forward this great scheme of improvement, will not falter 
until the work is accomplished. We are well convinced that they 
are the true benefactors of the state — and they deserve well of the 
Republic — and at some day not very distant, they will have the con- 
solation of seeing that the moral effects of this system, will be no 
less salutary than the physical. We hope, then, we have shewn, 
upon principles which cannot be controverted, that the experience 
of the last forty years in Virginia, need not fill us with apprehensions 
for the future. Time and internal improvement will cure all our 
ills, and speed on the Old Dominion more rapidly in wealth and 
prosperity. 



125 

v Many are most willing to allow the force of the preceding rea- 
soning, and to admit that there is no real danger to be appre- 
hended either now, or in future, from our blacks; and yet, they* 
say ihete is a feeling of insecurity throughout the slave-holding 
country^ and this sense of insecurity destroys our happiness. Now, 
we are wost willing to admit that, after such an insurrection as 
that in Southampton, the public mind will be disturbed, and 
alarm anl' apprehension, will pervade the community. But the 
fact proves that all this is of short, very short duration. We be- 
lieve that there was not a single citizen in Virginia, who felt any 
alarm from the negroes, previous to the Southampton tragedy, 
and we believe at this moment there are very few who feel the 
slightest apprehension. We have no doubt, paradoxical as it may 
seem to |ome, but that the population of our slave-holding country, 
enjoys as much, or more conscious security, than any other people 
on the fade of the globe ! You will find throughout the whole 
slave-holding portion of Virginia, and we believe it is the same 
in the southern states generally, that the houses are scarcely ever 
fastened at night, so as to be completely inaccessible to those 
without, except in towns. This simple fact, is demonstration com- 
plete, of the conscious security of our citizens, and their great con- 
fidence in tue fidelity of the blacks. There is no bas peuple, no 
lower class, On the globe, among whom the life of man is so secure 
as among th&slaves of America, for they rarelymurder, as we have 
already seen, for the sake of money. A negro will rob your hen 
roost or your* stye, but it is rare indeed, that he can ever be induced 
to murder you. Upon this subject we speak from experience. 
We have sojourned in some of the best regulated countries of Eu- 
rope, and w£ know that every where the man of property clares 
not close InVeyes before every window and door are barred againt 
intruders fifom without. And we believe, even in our northern 
states, these^precautions are adopted to a much 'greater extent, 
than with ul; and consequently, mark a much greater sense of in- 
security than exists among us. 

5thly, aftd lastly, Slave labor is unproductive, and the dis- 
tressed condition of Virginia and the whole south is owing to this 
cause. Our limits will not allow us to investigate fully this asser- 
tion, but a very partial analysis will enable us to show that the 
truth of tfre general proposition upon which the conclusion is 
based, depends on circumstances, aud that those circumstances do 
not appl^ to our southern country. The ground assumed by 
Smith and Storch, who are the most able supporters of the doc- 
trine of the superior productiveness of free labor, is that each one 
is actuated by a desire to accumulate when free, and this desire 
produces much more efficient and constant exertions than can pos- 
sibly be expected from the feeble operation of fear upon the slave. 
We are, in the main, converts to this doctrine, but must be per- 
mitted to limit it by some considerations. It is very evident, 
when we look to the various countries in which there is free labor 
,17 



126 

, alone, that a vast difference in its productiveness is manifested. 
The English operative we are disposed to consider the most pro- 
ductive laborer in the world, and the Irish laborer, in his imme- 
diate neighborhood, is not more than equal to the southern slave — 
the Spanish and even Italian laborers are inferior. Now,ihow are 
we to account for this great difference? It will be found mainly 
to depend upon the operation of tw T o great principles, arid seconda- 
rily upon attendant circumstances. These two principles are the 
desire to accumulate and belter our condition, and a desire to in- 
dulge in idleness and inactivity. 

We have already seen that the principle of idleness triumphed 
over the desire for accumulation among the savages of North and 
South America, among the African nations, among the blacks of 
St. Domingo, &c, and nothing but the strong arm of authority 
could overcome its operation. In southern countries, idleness is 
very apt to predominate, even under the most favorable circum- 
stances, over the desire to accumulate, and slave labor, conse- 
quently, in such countries, is most productive. Again, staple- 
growing states are, cceteris paribus, more favorable t* slave labor 
than manufacturing states. Slaves in such countries may be 
worked in bodies under the eye of a superintendent, and made to 
perform more labor than freemen. There is no instance of the 
successful cultivation of the sugar cane by free labor. St. Domingo, 
once the greatest sugar-growing island in the world, makes now 
scarcely enough for her own supply. We very much doubt even 
whether slave labor be not best for all southern agricultural coun- 
tries. Humboldt, in his New Spain, says he doubts whether there 
be a plant on the globe so productive as the banana/and yet these 
banana districts, strange to tell, are the poorest and most miserable 
in all South America, because the peeple only labbr a little to 
support themselves, and spend the rest of their time^in idleness. 
There is no doubt but slave labor would be the most productive 
kind in these districts. We doubt whether the extreme south of 
the United States, and the West India islands, would ever have 
been cultivated to the same degree of perfection as now, by any 
other than slave labor. The history of colonization furnishes no 
example whatever, of the transplantation of whites to very warm 
or tropical latitudes, without signal deterioration of character, at- 
tended with an unconquerable aversion to labor. And it would 
seem that nothing but slavery can remedy this otherwise inevitable 
tendency. The fact, that to the north, negro slavery has every 
where disappeared, whilst to the south, it has maintained its 
ground triumphantly against free labor, is of itself conclusive of 
the superior productiveness of slave labor in southern latitudes. 
We believe that Virginia and Maryland are too far north for slave 
labor, but all the states to the south of these are perhaps better 
adapted to slave labor than free^ 

But it is said, with the increasing density of population, free 
labor becomes cheaper than slave, and finally extinguishes it, as 



127 

has actually happened in the West of Europe; this we are ready 
to admit, but think it was owing to a change in the tillage, and the 
rise of manufactures and commerce, to which free labor alone is 
adapted* As a proof of this, we can cite the populous empire of 
China, and the eastern nations generally, where slave, labor has 
stood its ground against free labor, although the population is 
denser, artd the proportional means of subsistence more scanty 
than any where else on the face of the globe. How is this to be 
accounted for, let us ask? Does it not prove, that under some 
circumstances, slave labor is as productive as free? We would as 
soon look to China to test this principle, as any other nation on earth. 
The slave districts in China, according to the report of travel- 
lers, are determined by latitude and agricultural products. The 
wheat growing districts have no slaves, but the rice, cotton, and 
sugar growing districts situated in warm climates, have all of them 
slaves, affording a perfect exemplification of the remarks above 
made. Again, looking to the nations of antiquity, if the Scrip- 
tural accounts are to be relied on, the number 7 of inhabitants in 
Palestine must have been more than 6,000,000; at which rate, 
Palestine was at least, when taking into consideration her limited 
territory, five times as populous as England.* Now we know 
that the tribes of Judah and Israel both used slave labor, and 
it must have been exceedingly productive, for we find the two 
Kings of Judfeh and Israel bringing into the field no less than 
1,200,000 chosen men;f and Jehosaphat, the son of Asa, had an 
army consisting of 1,160^000 ;f and what a prodigious force must 
he have commanded, had he been sovereign of all the tribes! 
Nothing but the most productive labor could ever have supported 
the immense armies which were then led into the field. 

Wallace thinks that ancient Egypt must have been thrice as 
populous as England; and yet so valuable was slave labor, that 
ten of the most dreadful plagues that ever affected mankind, could 
not dispose the selfish heart of Pharoah to part with his Israelitish 
slaves; and when he lost them, Egypt sunk, never to rise to her 
pristine grandeur again. Ancient Italy too, not to mention Greece, 
was exceedingly populous, and perhaps Rome was a larger city 
than any of modern times — and yet slave labor supported these 
dense populations, and even rooted out free labor. All these ex- 
amples prove sufficiently, that under certain circumstances, slave 
is as productive, and even more productive, than free labor. 

But the southern states, and particularly Virginia, have been 
compared with the non-slave-holding states, and pronounced fir 
behind them in the general increase of wealth and population ; 
and thisXit is said, is a decisive proof of the inferiority of slave 
labor in this country. We are sorry we have not the spacefor a 
thorough investigation of this assertion, but we have no doubt of 



* See Wallace on the Numbers of Mankind, p. 52, Edinb. Edit. 
1 2 Chron. xiii. 3. t 2 Chron. xvii. 



128 

its fallacy. Look to the progress of the colonies before the estab- 
lishment of the federal government, and you find the slave-holding 
were the most prosperous and the most wealthy. The north 
dreaded the formation of the confederated government, precisely 
because of its poverty. This is an historic fact. It stood to the 
south, as Scotland did to England at the period of the Union ; 
and feared lest the south, by its superior wealth, supported by 
this very slave labor, which, all of a sudden, has becotne so un- 
productive, should abstract the little wealth which it possessed. 
Again, look to the exports at the present time of the whole confed- 
eracy, and what do we see — why, that one-third of the states, and 
those slave-holding too, furnish two-thirds of the whole exports ! ! 
But although this is now the case, we are still not prosperous. 
Let us ask then two simple questions; 1st. How came Che south, 
for two hundred years, to prosper with her slave labor,- if so very 
unproductive and ruinous? and 2dly. How does it happen, that 
her exports are so great even now, and that her prosperity is 
nevertheless on the decline ? Painful as the accusation may be to 
the heart of the true patriot, we are forced to assert4hat the un- 
equal operation of the federal government has principally achieved 
it. The north has found that it could not compete with the 
south in agriculture, and has had recourse to the system of 
duties, for the purpose of raising up the business'' of manufac- 
tures. This is a business in which the slave laborC cannot com- 
pete with northern, and in order to carry this syltem through, 
a coalition has been formed with the west, by which d-large portion 
of the federal funds are to be spent in that quarter for internal 
improvements. These duties act as a discouragement to southern 
industry, which furnishes the exports by which the imports are pur- 
chased, and a bounty to northern labor, and the partial disburse- 
ments of the funds increase the pressure on the south to a still 
greater degree. It is not slave labor then which has produced our 
depression, but it is the action of the federal government which is 
ruining slave labor. 

There is at this moment an exemplification of the destructive 
influence of government agency in the West Indies. £The British 
West India Islands are now in a more depressed condition than any 
others, and both the Edinburgh and London Quarterly Reviews 
charge their depression upon the regulations, taxing sugar, coffee, 
&c, and preventing them, at the same time, from purchasing 
bread stuffs, &tc. from the United States, which can be furnished 
by them cheaper than from any other quarter. Some of the phi- 
lanthropists of Great Britain cry out it is slavery which has done 
it, and the slaves must be liberated; but they are at once refuted 
by the fact, that never has island flourished more rapidly than- Cuba, 
in their immediate neighborhood. And Cuba flourishes because 
she enjoys free trade, and has procured of late plenty of slaves. It 
is curious that the population of this island has, for the last thirty 
years, kept pace with that of Pennsylvania, one of the most flourishing 



129 

at the states of the confederacy, and her wealth has increased in a 
still greater ratio.* Look again to Brazil, perhaps, at this mo- 
ment, the most prosperous state of South America, and we find her 
slaves three times more numerous than the freemen. Mr. Brough- 
am, in h|s Colonial Policy, says that Cayenne never flourished as 
long as she was scantily supplied with slaves, but her prosperity 
commenced the moment she was supplied with an abundance of 
this unproductive labor. Now we must earnestly ask an explana- 
tion of tfrese phenomena, upon the principle that slave labor is un- 
productive. -_ 

There are other causes too, which have operated in concert with 
the federal government, to depress the south. The climate is un- 
healthy, and upon an average, perhaps one-tenth of the-labor is 
suspended during the sickly months. There is a great deal of 
travelling too, from this cause, to the north, which abstracts the 
capital from the south, and spreads it over the north. The emigra- 
tion from the south to the west, as we have before seen, is very great 
and very injurious; and added to all this, the standard of comfort 
is much higher in the slave holding than the non-slave-holding 
states. f AH these circumstances together, are surety sufficient to 
account for the depressed condition of the south, without asserting 
that slave labor is valueless. But we believe all other causes as 
" dust in the balance/' when compared with the operation of the 
federal government. 

How does it happen that Louisiana, with a greater proportional 
number of slaves than any other state in the Union, with the most 
insalubrious climate, with one-fourth of her white population spread 
over the more northern states in the sickly season, and with a higher 
standard of comfort than perhaps any other state in the Union, is 
nevertheless one of the most.rapidly flourishing in the whole south- 
ern country? The true answer is, she has been so fortunately situa- 
ted as to be able to reap the fruits of federal protection. " Midas's 
wand" has touched her, and she has reaped the golden harvest. 
There is no complaint thereof the unproductiveness of slave labor. 

*See some interesting statistics concerning this island in Mr. Poinsett's Notes on 
Mexico. 

f In the Virginia debate, it was said that the slow progress of the Virginia popula- 
tion was a most unerring symptom of her want of prosperity, and the inefficacy of 
slave labor. Now Ave protest against this criterion, unless very cautiously applied. 
Ireland suffers.. more from want and famine than any other county in Europe, and yet 
her population advances almost as rapidly as ours, and it is this very increase which 
curses the country with the plague of famine. In the Highlands of Scotland, they 
have a very sparse population, scarcely increasing at all; and yet they are much better 
fed, clothed. &c. than in Ireland. Malthus has proved, that there are two species of 
checks which repress redundant populations— positive and preventive. It is the latter 
which keeps down the Scotch population ; while the former, always accompanied with 
misery, keeps down the Irish. We believe at this time the preventive checks are in full 
operation in Virginia. The people of that state live much better than the same classes 
to the north, and they will not get married unless there is a prospect of maintaining 
their families in the same style they have been accustomed to live in. We believe the 
preventive checks may commence their operation too soon for the wealth of a state, but 
they always mark a high degree of civilization — so that the slow progress of population 
in Virginia turns out to be her highest eulogy. 



130 

But it is time to bring this long article to a close; it is upon a 
subject which we have most reluctantly discussed ; but, as we have 
already said, the example was set from a higher quarter ; the seal 
has been broken, and we therefore determined to enter fully into the 
discussion. If our positions be true, and it does seem to us they 
maybe sustained by reasoning almost as conclusive as the demon- 
stration of the mathematician, it follows, that the time fyr emanci- 
pation has not yet arrived, and perhaps it never will. iWe hope 
sincerely, that the intelligent sons of Virginia will pondep well be- 
fore they move — before they enter into a scheme which will destroy 
more than half Virginia's wealth, and drag her down from her 
proud and elevated station among the mean things of the earth, — 
and when, Sampson like, she shall by this ruinous scheme, J>e shorn 
of all her power, and all her glory, the passing stranger may at 
some future day exclaim, 

"TheNiobe of Nations ; there she stands 
"Friendless and helpless in her voiceless woe." 

Once more then, do we call upon our statesmen tq pause, 'ere 
they engage in this ruinous scheme. The power of maji has limits, 
and he should never attempt impossibilities. We do, believe, it is 
beyond the power of man to separate the elements of our popula- 
tion, even, if it were desirable. The deep and solid foundations of 
society, cannot be broken up by the vain fiat of (lie legislator. 
We must recollect, that the laws of Lycurgus were promulgated, 
the sublime eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero was heard, and 
the glorious achievements of Epaminondas and Scipio were witness- 
ed in countries, where slavery existed — without for one moment loos- 
ening the tie between master and slave. We must recollect, too, 
that Poland has been desolated; that Kosciusko, Sobieski, Scrynecki, 
have fought and bled for the cause of liberty in that country — that 
one of her monarchs annulled, in words, the tie between master and 
slave; and yet, the order of nature, has in the end vindicated itself; 
and the dependence between master and slave, has scarcely for a 
moment ceased. We must recollect, in fine, that our own country 
has waded through two dangerous wars — that the thfilling elo- 
quence of the Demosthenes of our land has been heard with rapture, 
exhorting to death, rather than slavery — that the most liberal prin- 
ciples, have ever been promulged and sustained, in our delibera- 
tive bodies, and before our judicial tribunals-r-and the whole has 
passed by, without breaking or tearing asunder the elements of our 
social fabric. Let us reflect on these things, and learn wisdom from 
experience ; and know, that the relations of society, generated by 
the lapse of ages, cannot be altered in a day. 



APPENDIX. 



i 

The following extracts from a letter received from a gentleman, 
in answer to some queries which we lately propounded to him in 
conversation, have readied us too late to take advantage of them 
in the body of the Review. As, however, they corroborate some 
of the most important views taken in the Review, and proceed 
from the pen of a gentleman of great intelligence and patriotism, 
arid one who perhaps understands the various sectional interests 
of our state better than any other individual, we cannot refrain 
from the publication of them in an Appendix ; and hope the 
author, to whom we have been so frequently indebted for statistical 
information, will pardon the liberty which we take. 

"In relation to our conversation concerning the culture of the 
upper country, I can only speak of the south-west, as I am best 
acquainted with that part — yet, 1 believe it applies to every por- 
tion of it, from Augusta to Tennessee — certainly in the region of 
the Alleghany. 

"Land, in those counties on the Alleghany mountains, and be- 
yond it, are low in price, resulting from the fact, that few of the 
products of the soil will sell in the market, for a much higher 
price than will pay for their transportation, which is high, owing 
to the distance, the wagon alone being u^l, and on very bad 
roads, which in the winter and towards spring are nearly impassible. 

"From these circumstances, you will perceive the impossibility 
of the inhabitants of that district sending to market any thing 
but beef, mutton or pork, which has caused all who have suitable 
lands, to turn them into grass farms to obtain any revenue. 

" This mode of culture requires a large capital in land, and 
extensive pastures to obtain a comfortable income, and can only 
be increased by extending the farm. 

"The profit per acre, of this mode of farming is small; it may 
I think, with due regard to the seasons, be estimated at two or 
three dollars! The process is simple, and requires no labor of con- 
sequence after the grounds are well laid down in grass. The ox 
is purchased poor, and fed, generally, from September of the pre- 
ceding year until November of the next year, when he is sold for 
a profit of ten or fifteen dollars, though, if he is of a large size, 
with a form adapted to rapid improvement in taking on fat, he 
may command a higher price. Land in that part of the state will 
be found differing as widely in its ability to produce grass, as 
almost any where else, but it may be considered safe to allow five 
acres to the ox; if the pasture is new, I think there is no doubt, 
this is not more than sufficient. 

" The. advantage of grass farming is, that it requires no labor — 
when the stock is purchased and put upon the pasture, two or 



132 

three men can readily attend to several hundred, if sold in No- 
vember, but if reserved for market in January or February then a 
few laborers will be required to raise corn (maize) to feed them 
during the winter months, which is given in aid of good hay. 
None can pursue this business with any hope of success, unless 
he has large possessions in land. 

"Were a conveyance to market practicable of the usual pro- 
ducts of the soil, as wheat, barley, potatoes, rye, he; the grass 
farm would soon be divided into several farms for the growing of 
wheat, which is much more profitable. 

"The five acres of pasture allowed the ox, if cultivated in wheat, 
would certainly produce fifty bushels, which would be fully suffi- 
cient to manufacture ten barrels of flour, worth at least forty dol- 
lars ! whereas, the beef produced from the same ground, would 
only bring from ten to fifteen, at most twenty dollars, t 

" By this last mode of farming, more labor is necessary, and 
less land. Consequently the farmer who can afford to pay the 
transportation to market of wheat or flour, is ready and very 
willing to purchase slaves to produce the crop — the farm being 
confined to a few acres comparatively speaking. 

"In those districts near the James River, a family can live in 
great abundance, and increase their wealth upon an hundred acres 
of ground from the sale of flour, but in the grass region, such a 
family could not by every industry, do very little more than sub- 
sist comfortably; wherefore, they are compelled to sell their farm 
to the next grass far^r and move to the great west — his little farm 
when annexed to the great territory of his neighbor, is lost to the 
country, and cattle thenceforth take the place of people. 

"It is quite common in that district to hear the owners of such 
farms remark, that ' they wish to sell, because thfey cannot by 
hard labor make any thing but a subsistence, since they cannot 
sell any wheat or grain, and their land is not suflfcient to fatten 
stock for market — that land in the west is cheap and the soil very 
rich, and if he has to work to subsist his family, it would be a 
gain to labor where his land would double his crop from its supe- 
rior richness of soil.' 

"You ask me also, in relation to the honesty of slaves — all I 
know of them is, as I find them in the west. The people as I have 
shown you in that part of the state, have but very few, not that 
they have prejudices against them, but because they have no em- 
ployment for them — if roads, or rail-roads were constructed so as 
to allow the transportation of flour at a profit, I dou*bt not there 
would soon be many there. Such as have slaves, find no difficulty 
with them, they soon acquire the habits of the laborers of the 
country, and do not often feel in any other station than that of the 
laborer on the farm, with all the comforts which fall to the lot of 
the poor, and which he is capable of enjoying, with as much time 
at his disposal as any industrious white man who has to perform 
the same work. 



133 

" Brought up in this way, they learn to think and take an inte- 
rest in what is going on, and will always give a good reason for 
every operation on the farm — he is generally honest, strictly so in 
every thing of importance — a thief or pilferer, in a neighborhood, 
is soon as well known to the white people as to the slaves, and is 
as much contemned by the latter as the former. 1 have rarely 
ever known or heard of negroes stealing any thing but poultry, or 
some little finery appertaining to dress, of which they are as fond 
as a buck in Broadway. Money the slave seldom touches, as 
there is something precious about that in their eyes — -and he who 
would steal a dozen chickens from his master and sell them for a 
dollar at the next village, would often bring a dollar to his master 
if he were to find it where it had been lost. 

"I recollect not one instance, nor have I ever heard of a slave's 
committing murder for money — murders they have sometimes 
perpetrated it is very true, but I think generally in the heat of 
passion, or acting under a sense of deep injury or an accumulated 
load of personal wrongs. If the slave think his master a just anel 
good man, satisfied with what is considered a day's work, he is al- 
ways ready to pay the forfeit for any violation of orders; this dis- 
cipline is hardly ever necessary. I have known men fifty years 
old, who never received a blow in their lives, and through the 
whole of that time was their masters good friend. In speaking of 
their murders, I must not forget to say, that when Mr. Lewis of 
Prince George county was murdered by his slaves, it was thought 
by many, that the deed was committed for his money, (many with- 
out doubt still think so,) the money was taken from his desk before 
the house was set on fire — Yet, there was in my mind something 
which compelled me to think the horrid act was committed, that, 
by the aid of money they might be able to find their way to the 
north, for it was about that time these incendiary publications were 
industriously circulated amongst us. 

u I have written you a long letter, which you will easily perceive 
has been hastily sketched, though 1 feel assured, based upon facts 
and observations which will stand the test of scrutiny, and cannot by 
any effort be found deficient, or defective." 
18 



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